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

I thank Senator Ronaldson for the question. First of all, I indicate that, as he well knows, following a rather incorrect claim made in the media on, I think, 18 August, Mr Tim Lee, General Manager of Fair Work Australia, put out a statement where he responded to that. He also set out the record of the timing of the investigation that Senator Ronaldson refers to. As part of that, he indicated that the investigation was ongoing and that Fair work Australia had made no comment on any aspect either of its inquiry or of its subsequent investigation.

What Mr Lee, the General Manager of Fair Work Australia, did was lay out the facts of the matter but also made it clear that there was an ongoing investigation and that they would complete that investigation in accordance with their own time frames. Senator Ronaldson knows well that, if I had actually rung Mr Lee or sought to make inquiries or discuss with him the investi­gation, I would be under attack here for having interfered in the investigation, which of course I have not and will not. It does stand in stark contrast to what seems to have occurred in New South Wales, where political connections have been used in association with a police inquiry, where people are ringing their mates and asking questions about whether they ought to have a chat to the chief Police Commissioner.