Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've got to say to you that I would have thought better of the comments that were made by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, quite frankly. I thought he was a half-decent person. Nevertheless, he is making accusations, implying some sort of quid-pro-quo arrangement in relation to a fine gentleman who happens to have made a donation. He also, I might add, made a donation of $650,000 to Queensland Health to help them prepare for COVID because the then state minister Bailey had failed to do it. He made another $80,000 donation in equipment there and even a $6,000 donation to feed the Queensland Health staff.

He was approached by a representative from Torres Health to see whether or not he would also be interested in making a donation of an MRI machine to Thursday Island Hospital. That is the reason why he approached me and wanted to know about protocols in travelling up to the Torres Strait. It is because he was invited up there to actually consider making a donation, like the $700,000 he'd done at Cairns.

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