Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to 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?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

You failed miserably.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I call the Prime Minister.

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

Useless, negligent twit.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will withdraw that remark.

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

I withdraw.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Minister for Foreign Affairs used an unparliamentary expression—the word was ‘liar’—in respect of the Leader of the Opposition, and I ask for it to be withdrawn.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did not hear that but if the minister said that I ask him to withdraw.

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I withdraw.

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

The answer to the Leader of the Opposition’s question is no. What I said yesterday, which he did not accurately quote, was that Mr Cole had said in February of last year that if, during his investigation, he discovered evidence that an officer of the Commonwealth—and that includes a minister—had broken a law of the Commonwealth, a state or territory, he would seek an extension of his terms of reference. He sought no such extension.

It will be up to the Australian public when they read the report to draw their conclusions about the false allegations of dishonesty, negligence, bribery and corruption that have been made by the Leader of the Opposition and his colleague from Griffith for the last year. When the report comes out, the Australian public can judge the veracity of the outrageous allegations that have been made, especially against the character of the Minister for Foreign Affairs who, in my view, has done an outstanding job representing the interests of this nation abroad. It is very easy to fling those sorts of allegations around under parliamentary privilege, but once the report is out the Australian public will make a judgement about the standards and behaviour of the Leader of the Opposition.