John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

They have not been able to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by any of my ministers. They have not been able to produce evidence of any wrongdoing by any officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. All the member for Griffith has done is to sneer at and denigrate the hardworking people of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

We alone of governments established a transparent inquiry. It is presided over by an eminent lawyer, somebody who is well regarded in the Australian community. I believe, as most Australians do, that what should happen is that Mr Cole should be allowed to get on with his job and get to the bottom of this matter. The government await that conclusion. The government will continue to cooperate with the inquiry. At the end of the day, this government will be able to look anybody in the eye and say, ‘We alone had the courage and the transparency to establish an inquiry with the powers of a royal commission.’ I believe the government have acted with entire and complete propriety in this whole matter.

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