David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the answers given by Senator Chris Evans regarding Minister Stephen Smith. Firstly, there is at least one point that we agree on, and that is that this is indeed a sad and unfortunate set of circumstances. I have had the privilege in my capacity as Parliamentary Secretary for Defence to work with Major General Cantwell and meet with him on a number of occasions, and I would only ever say, publicly and privately, that he is a distinguished former officer of the ADF, that he has given exemplary service to his country and that he is a person of outstanding record. That is the basis upon which I think all of us should reflect upon him.

Major General Cantwell has obviously written a long piece that has appeared in the newspapers, and I am sure all of us have read it. For those us who have not read it, the shadow minister for defence just managed to spend 2½ of his three minutes rereading it to us. That offers us no insights above and beyond the fact that Major General Cantwell wrote an article which is deeply regrettable and, I guess, offers a set of reflections on the Minister for Defence which I say are unfortunate and regrettable. Let us be clear here about the context.