Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I do not understand the relevance of the reference to the Code of Conduct for Ministerial Staff. I reiterate what I just told him, which is that the border protection committee had responsibility for these matters and that the senior ministers involved have been managing the issues. Mr Smith, Mr O’Connor, the Minister for Home Affairs, and I have been the lead ministers because we have had an active interest in the matter—the relationship with the Indonesian government, the immigration processes and, for Mr O’Connor, the Oceanic Viking, because it is part of the customs and border protection portfolio. The responsibility inside government lies with the border protection committee which I chair. (Time expired)