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

Thank you very much, Mr President. We had before us a request from a business owned by Coca-Cola Amatil with a $9 billion market capitalisation, with a strong balance sheet, with all of the cash reserves required to make the investment in SPC Ardmona if that is what they thought was the appropriate thing to do. The government made an informed decision that it is not appropriate for the taxpayer to cross-subsidise these sorts of commercial investments by profitable private companies—and the government will not be changing the decision that we made.