Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Once there was a realisation that there was a possible problem with the testimony of the senior officer of the Attorney-General's Department, a thorough review was undertaken. And, as soon as that review had been completed, the record was corrected by the Attorney-General and by the foreign minister.

The relevant matters here are these. First of all, the director-general of ASIO said that the letter from the Martin Place murderer had been handled appropriately. The secretary of my department said that the access to that letter would have made no difference to the inquiry that was conducted by him and the secretary of the Premier's department. Any suggestion coming from members opposite that different treatment of that letter might have averted the Martin Place atrocity is just fanciful.

I am very surprised that members opposite are raising this question of the length of time that it has taken to correct the record because, reluctant though I am to refer to it, no less a person than the Leader of the Opposition himself took two years—two years—to correct the record with Neil Mitchell the other day. He took two years to correct the record with Neil Mitchell the other day.

There was no question of needing to be found out with this government—no question. As soon as we were aware that there had been possibly inaccurate information given to Senate estimates, we took appropriate steps to clarify the situation, and as soon as the situation was clarified the record was corrected—nothing inappropriate, nothing untoward; all in accordance with the best traditions of this parliament.

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