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Thursday, 5 March 1970

Mr GORTON (Higgins) (Prime Minister) - A personal explanation, Mr Speaker.

Mr SPEAKER - Order! The House will come to order. I call the Prime Minister.

Mr GORTON - Mr Speaker,1 would like to make a personal explanation because it appears to me that the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Whitlam) suggested - and it was inherent in his remarks - that for some reason I misrepresented him deliberately on the question of coffee which seems to be of so much interest to him. I would wish to make this explanation. If indeed what the Leader of the Opposition now says is true, then we have all been misled by the transcript of his speech to the Tolais and by the reports published throughout all the Territory Press. Indeed, it may well be that the Leader of the Opposition did mean to say cocoa' when he said 'coffee' and, if so, I apologise to him for actually accepting what he said, which was 'coffee'. We will now, if necessary and if it helps the Leader of the Opposition, accept that he meant cocoa instead of coffee, adding merely this, that it is always just as well to have this kind of examination to discover just exactly what it was that the Leader of the Opposition meant when he said something.

Dr Mackay - Mr Speaker, there have been several quite serious allegations made to my discredit in the House in the last few minutes -

Mr SPEAKER - Is the honourable member for Evans claiming to be misrepresented?

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