"I could" not a good start to an election year for Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

 

Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Member for JagaJaga, Jenny Macklin, may live to regret how easily this I could tripped off her tongue:

 

 

http://video.news.com.au/2322384988/Macklin-says-dole-is-enough-to-live-on

 

Journalist: With respect that didn't answer the question. Could you live on the dole?

Ms Macklin: I could, and of course we understand that what's important for people who are unemployed is that we do everything possible to help people get work.

 

What she must regret right now is the silly attempt to hide both question and response in the 1 January 2013 doorstop press conference transcript available on the ministerial website:

 

 

The weak explanation supplied to mainstream media for this omission compounds the problem for Ms. Macklin and provides Nick McGowan, the Liberal candidate in Jaga Jaga who was raised by a single parent, with an unexpected free kick at the start of this federal election year:

 

Last night, her office claimed its recording had been affected by a revving car.

UPDATE:

The Minister appears intent on making the situation worse by failing to directly respond to a Fairfax Media request for a copy of this recording.