Clive Palmer makes first contribution to Question Time, demanding to know if his phone tapped CLIVE Palmer has made his first contribution to Question Time, demanding Prime Minister Tony Abbott tell him if his phone has been tapped. The Member for Fairfax used his first question to ask whether his emails were being intercepted, phones tapped or office bugged. He threw a taste of international espionage into the mix, wondering aloud whether foreign spy agencies had been enlisted to do any dirty work for the Australian Government. Mr Palmer asked: "Following the revelations in the Senate in November that up to five members of Parliament's data have been accessed, are any crossbench members including me having their phones and their emails tapped and intercepted by a Commonwealth of State agency, or any foreign government doing this to give the government plausible denial? Are our Parliamentary offices bugged? One member called out, to laughter: "The people of Fairfax are very concerned!" Mr Abbott assured Mr Palmer - following a brief interruption by Bob Katter who objected to being lumped in with the Palmer United Party leader - that he had nothing to worry about. Mr Abbott said that while he would not break tradition and comment on operational intelligence matters, he could say that no phone could be tapped without a "specific warrant." "He can speak in peace, so to speak," he said. Mr Palmer continued his foray into the world of spies, with a press conference after question time, during which he answered his ringing phone. "How you going ASIO?" he said to the person on the other line. You hear little clicks on the phone there Liam? You did hear the clicks. It's good to keep them employed, they've got families too. He told the person, who he identified as a lawyer, that he would have to call back on a "sterile" line. Mr Palmer labelled his brief exchange with the PM "Abbott-gate," "The Prime Minister answered my question by saying he doesn't comment on operational intelligence," he said. We're not another country, we're representatives of the Australian people. He referred to the infamous Watergate scandal, noting that the current situation was "even worse." The billionaire then referenced the fall of the Berlin Wall, CIA shadow operations and Russian intelligence operations. Asked if he would have to have his office swept by professionals for listening devices, he said he would, later adding that his phone has been bugged for "10 or 15 years." "We'll probably do that but I'll have to not use the telephone to organise it," he said. Mr Palmer said he was not satisfied with Mr Abbott's response in Parliament. "Not really, it's a simple question - is my phone or my email being bugged or intercepted?" he said. I didn't get a yes or a no answer, he hopped up, had to think for a while. He was kind enough to compliment me on my election to Fairfax and how welcome I was in Parliament, that was a wonderful thing for the Prime Minister to do. He said he did not understand why others in the chamber seemed surprised by his question. "Everyone seemed to be surprised that I asked a question, I don't know why that was, it's a pretty straightforward sort of question," he said. Mr Palmer also claimed fellow Queensland crossbencher Bob Katter had told him that there had been 13 attempts to bug his phone and sift through his emails. "I thought if they're doing that to poor old Bob, what are they doing to other people that have other policies," he said. He also suggested his party would be open to supporting Temporary Protection Visas if certain conditions changed, namely the way children were attended to. But he was yet to discuss carbon tax repeal legislation with his Senator-elects.