Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

As I've said on a number of occasions in the past, in relation to announcement arrangements, of course Senator McKenzie liaised with the Prime Minister's Office as appropriate and approval was sought for announcement arrangements. That is something that has been made clear consistently. That is something that I've made clear, in this chamber, as the Prime Minister's representative before. Leaving the rhetorical flourish to one side, nothing that Senator Farrell has just said is in any way inconsistent with what I've previously said to the Senate and, indeed, with what the Prime Minister has previously said publicly. In fact, I refer you to what the Prime Minister said, on ABC television, on 28 February 2020. He said:

What she sought from me was approval to make announcements. So, I mean, she'd made the decisions. She'd authorised the decisions on the 4th of April. And it's commonplace for ministers before they make announcements about projects that they seek approval from the Prime Minister.

That is precisely what happened. That is the consistent answer that we've given to these questions. Senator Wong, inappropriately, trying to create the impression that somehow this is a new revelation, I completely reject.