Page 837 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Well, the question for the minister is: did he ask of his officials whether there were documents? But the problem for the minister in that is that that question is almost irrelevant, because the minister signed a document. He wrote to the federal minister on behalf of the industry about their concerns, and he got a response. The question is: what did he do with the response? Well, we are not to know that. But when Mr Corbell was caught out and he wrote to members after 11 February, this is his defence:
I was briefed by officials from the Office of Regulatory Services … in relation to the Commonwealth insulation program on Thursday 11 February 2010. The advice that I received related to a meeting that occurred between officials from the Australian Government and states and territories.
I do not see in that paragraph that he asked whether there were documents. I do not hear in that paragraph that he asked whether or not there were complaints. But that is what he told this place—there were no complaints and there were no documents. But then he goes on:
I was informed that the meeting took place in … April 2009 and was attended by a relatively junior officer from ORS.
It is interesting; we might work out who the ORS officer was and whether or not he is relatively junior. He continues:
I was not briefed … prior to 11 February 2010. I was not informed by officials that they possessed any documents relating to the Commonwealth insulation … program. The information provided by me to the Assembly on 11 February … was based on the information provided … by my Department.
So the question is: did an officer tell the minister there were no documents? You need to ask him that question. The Greens need to be satisfied of this, because they are swallowing this guff hook, line and sinker. He says:
I was not informed by officials that they possessed any documents relating to the Commonwealth insulation installation program. The information provided by me to the Assembly … was based on the information provided … by my Department.
So unless an official told him emphatically, “There are no documents, minister, and there are no complaints, minister,” then what he told the Assembly is a mislead, and it is wilfully misleading, because he made it up. The reality is that there are complaints. We know that there are documents; we have seen the documents. Whether you want to laugh and joke and go on with a semantic argument about them being repeats, it does not matter. The documents exist in so many forms. It is so clear that he had documents, and, at the end of the day, even if there was only one document, there are documents, and he signed one document, and he got a response to that document, and his government signed up to an MOU. (Extension of time granted.)
Then we go to complaints. Now, in an email released under the motion of the Assembly, it actually says there are two complaints relating to inadequate quality of
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