John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thought the Leader of the Opposition asked it better. Let me simply say that the answer to the honourable gentleman’s question is no. I ask him to contain his energy, ambition or whatever it is for about another 50 minutes and he will be able to have a look at the findings of a person in whom the Leader of the Opposition expressed complete confidence in relation to both his ability and his independence.

I will be very interested to see how the Leader of the Opposition squares what is in the report—and I do not intend to talk about the contents of the report—and any reaction he may have to the report with what he said about the quality of Mr Cole, who I would hope is regarded as a lawyer of great integrity, great repute and great forensic skills and as a completely and fearlessly independent man. He plainly is. That is what the Leader of the Opposition acknowledged earlier. I hope he has the courage to acknowledge it later as well.

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