Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the question. As I have already pointed out, Mr Trevor Matthews was the one who conducted the inquiry. I understand he did utilise Mr Harris in terms of some advice and assistance. Also, you may not have been present at the Senate estimates, but one of the reasons in fact that attracted me to Mr Matthews, aside from the fact that he was the former head of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia and aside from the fact that he was not in the country—so I regarded him as independent—he did not charge for his services. He did it voluntarily. I thought that that was pretty good value for taxpayers’ money. When I looked at his background and his qualifications and the fact that he was from outside the country, I saw that as a positive advantage. I particularly saw as a positive advantage that he was not going to charge— (Time expired)