Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Ellison, the Minister for Justice and Customs. I refer the minister to the following comments made by the Prime Minister on Tuesday regarding the Cole commission of inquiry:

If we had wanted to cover up, do you know what we would have done? We would have sent this off to some kind of investigation by the Australian Federal Police.

Does the minister share the Prime Minister’s view that the Australian Federal Police is the place to send matters that you want covered up? If the minister agrees with the Prime Minister, can he indicate how many times the AFP has been used by the government in this way? Does this mean that the reason why the Australian Federal Police is investigating seven potential breaches of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations is that the government wants to cover them up?