Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I reject both the premise of Senator Hanson-Young's question and the undergraduate tone with which it was directed. Did the government direct an independent science agency to release a report early? Is that seriously what you are suggesting? The AIMS chief executive himself, Paul Hardisty, has already made it clear that any suggestion that this report was rushed is entirely incorrect. The technical report was already finished. The document only needed to be prepared for publication, which required it to be formatted and laid out for publication. But the key findings of that report had already been finalised and, in fact, published and publicised in an op-ed by the CEO of AIMS on 12 July. That was before the government requested the report's release to provide to the World Heritage Committee. I'm afraid, Senator Hanson-Young, you are sorely mistaken.