WA's Attorney-General apologised to the state's parliament for what he described as a silly little error while giving evidence in a defamation case between Clive Palmer and Mark McGowan.
John Quigley gave evidence in the March Federal Court case, but had to return it the next month to correct it.
He said his busy work schedule may have contributed to him forgetting when he found out that there was a risk of Mr Palmer registering crucial arbitration, which could have led to a huge damages claim against the state.
The previous state government's refusal to assess the Balmoral South iron ore project in the Pilbara prompted Palmer to pursue damages, potentially worth $30 billion.
Justice Michael Lee said in handing down his judgement last week that Mr Quigley's evidence was not dishonest, but was all over the place. It is worth stressing that being a confused witness is quite different from being a dishonest one.
The opposition has used the situation to call for Mr Quigley to resign from his portfolio.
The idea has been rejected repeatedly by the government, including Mr McGowan and Mr Quigley.
Under questioning from the opposition in parliament today, Mr Quigley said he stood by his record as Attorney-General, which included introducing 70 bills.
In fact, he said that the silly little error was not an issue in the trial.
I apologize to the court, and I have apologised to the court, that I made a silly error that was an honest error. Mr Quigley said he felt embarrassed over the mistake, but he believed that he did the right thing.
When one makes an honest mistake, what should one do? As soon as you realize that you've made an error, move immediately to correct it, which is what I did. More to come.