Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister and I refer to his defence in his radio broadcast that Mr Cole had full powers and that if he wanted more powers all he needed to do was ask. Prime Minister, is it not a fact that in this March 2006 letter the Cole inquiry said it had no power whatsoever to make determinations about whether ministers upheld their legal obligations under Australia’s prohibited exports regulations? Is it not also the case that the inquiry said in this letter that it was entirely a matter for the government to decide, not for Mr Cole to request, whether such a large expansion of powers should be granted to the Cole inquiry? Will the Prime Minister now concede that this statement shows that he deliberately rorted Mr Cole’s terms of reference to protect himself and his ministers?

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