Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to follow on from those questions, and, while I tried to follow this as closely as I could yesterday, my apologies if I am covering ground that has been covered; let me know and I will refer back to the Hansard. You mentioned a moment ago that there were certain other areas that had been considered. Were they approached? Did they know they were being considered? I don't understand why the decision was made. I accept that it's within the government's power to make this decision, but why wasn't there any kind of open tender process? You're saying that you had set criteria against which you came to the decision you did, but why not let those communities and those areas put forward their own pitches for this kind of proposal? I am wondering why that was not how the decision was made.