Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson for that question. A royal commission operates entirely independent from government. And, as has been made clear by the government throughout, that is a key feature of a royal commission—that it is independent from government, and the royal commissioner makes his judgements on how he conducts the inquiry absolutely independently from government. In terms of the time frame for the royal commission, the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, myself and others are on the public record as indicating that if the royal commissioner provides advice to the government that he needs more time then we would of course grant that. But it is really a matter for him.