Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Ludwig needs to get into context what the Prime Minister said the other day. What the Prime Minister said was that it was an appropriate thing to do to send the AWB issue off to the commission of inquiry. It is interesting that in the Age the other day it was reported that Jeffrey Meyer, the senior counsel to Mr Volcker, who started all this with the Volcker inquiry, said:

If there is a silver lining here, it is that Australia took this report very seriously.

The larger global scandal here is so many other countries failed to take any kind of action despite the fact that the Volcker commission exposed, and conclusively proved in many instances, illegal payments.

What the Prime Minister was saying was that when you have an issue such as the one we had with AWB, it necessitates a commission of inquiry and that that was an appropriate way to deal with the matter. That has been endorsed internationally, and I refer to no less than the comments of the senior counsel to Mr Volcker, who ran the Volcker inquiry which started it all.

Senator Ludwig mentioned the Prime Minister’s comments in relation to the AFP. What he did not tell the Senate is that the Prime Minister said that the AFP does a very good job, a very thorough job, if I remember correctly. Certainly, matters which contravene the law are referred to the AFP. We do that regularly, both through me, as the Minister for Justice and Customs, and also through other avenues of referral. The Prime Minister was quite right when he was outlining the difference between a police investigation and a commission of inquiry. The commission of inquiry was the appropriate path to take in relation to the AWB matter. Matters of criminality, which may or may not be proved, may well be referred from that commission of inquiry, as is normal when you have a commission of inquiry. The Prime Minister certainly endorsed the very good work done by the Australian Federal Police, and so do I.