Blundering minister Clare O’Neil is left red-faced during car crash Question Time days after starting her new job: Here’s how her word salads failed to save her from an embarrassing error, writes PETER VAN ONSELEN
Just two weeks after being sacked from her Home Office portfolio following a series of scandals and mistakes, Clare O’Neil has been caught out again.
This time, it appears that the new Minister of Housing misled parliament by making up quotes from experts on Tuesday, after having to apologize earlier this week for making up economic models that she attributed to the Ministry of Finance.
It’s been a drama for O’Neil in her new role since parliament resumed this week, with one Labor MP sarcastically asking Daily Mail Australia “is it too early for another reshuffle?” in response to the minister’s failed performance on Question Time today.
The Housing Minister’s poor performance even managed to unite the coalition and the Greens as they together pointed out the growing list of blunders and untruths coming from O’Neil.
The Greens were first up, asking O’Neil to apologise for creating a model for the Treasury that she said supported Labor’s policy of building 160,000 new homes.
It turns out that no such model exists, something the Treasury Department had already confirmed before O’Neil’s comments.
The Minister then claimed that she had mistaken the Property Council’s models for those of the Treasury. However, the Property Council confirmed that she had also been unable to quote their data, which showed that there would be no net increase in the number of homes built under the policy.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the new minister, O’Neil was asked a devastating question by Coalition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar halfway through question time.
He wanted to know which experts she was referring to yesterday when she claimed that ‘there are experts in the industry who say it (the CFMEU scandals) has no impact on housing construction’.
By not giving a name, there is a possibility that she misled parliament.
Just two weeks after being sacked from the Home Office following a series of scandals and portfolio mistakes, Clare O’Neil has been caught out again
Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar (pictured) caught new Housing Minister Clare O’Neil on Tuesday making up experts to support her arguments
O’Neil’s attempts to avoid her ended with her revealing that she could not name a single expert to back up her claims in the House of Representatives yesterday. Talk about a bombastic farce.
Initially, O’Neil merely offered a wordy message, but she was reluctant to admit she had made a mistake, accusing the opposition and the Greens of playing politics.
You could see the dismay on the faces of her colleagues.
Then Sukkar asked his question again, in order to force the minister to answer on the basis of the rules of procedure of parliament.
The Labour Party leader then demanded that O’Neil answer in a way that was relevant to the question, backing her into a corner.
Mr Albanese (pictured left) is probably wondering when his new Housing Minister, Clare O’Neil (pictured right), will finally stop making mistakes.
Clare O’Neil (pictured) has been removed from the Home Affairs portfolio and is finding life no easier in the Housing portfolio, where she has been caught making things up on several occasions.
However, O’Neil continued to deny that she had made any mistakes so soon after taking office, which could make her ministerial position even more untenable than it already was.
In the end, the chairman allowed the minister to sit down so that she would no longer make a fool of herself.
We can assume that O’Neil will pick up the phone tonight in a desperate attempt to find an expert to substantiate her claims. She doesn’t want to have to admit to another embarrassing mistake tomorrow when Parliament reconvenes.