Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

On 2 March on Macquarie radio, in an interview with Ray Hadley, the Treasurer said of me:

Chris Bowen was the Immigration Minister and, remember, he was the bloke who renewed Alex Vella’s visa.

The House might recall that Mr Vella was associated with the Rebels motorcycle gang, so this is a very serious allegation. Accordingly, I subsequently wrote to the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection in accordance with my rights as a former minister under the Archives Act 1983 and requested to be provided with all documents that were provided to me or my office in relation to Mr Vella during my time as minister. The secretary has today written to me indicating that no such documents exist and no decision-making material was provided to me during my time as minister. Accordingly, the allegation made against me by the Treasurer is false and I invite him not to make it again.

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