Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reportedly corrected comments made in Question Time on Monday and apologised to Kevin Rudd for saying incorrectly that the former prime minister had travelled in and out of Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Rudd issued a statement Monday afternoon stating that Mr Morrison’s comment to the House of Representatives was “an utter falsehood”.
Labor has been critical of the number of Australians left waiting overseas to return home (well over 30,000 remain stranded, waiting for flights and hotel quarantine availability). One MP asked the Coalition why exemptions had been granted to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to “leave and re-enter multiple times this year”.
“Why would he want to bring personalities into this,” Mr Morrison responded, “given Mr Rudd has done the same thing?”
In his statement, Mr Rudd said he had not left the country since March. He demanded a retraction and apology from the Prime Minister, who he said “misled the parliament”.
Media has reported that Mr Morrison wrote to the clerk of the House of Representatives on Monday evening to correct the record and apologise to Mr Rudd for the error.
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