Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

As I pointed out to the member for Bruce, the Australian Electoral Commission is a totally independent body. I, quite appropriately, would not be privy to any briefings that the Australian Electoral Commission would have given to its independent legal advisers. I am sure it provided them with the facts around the matter. Some of those facts, I think, may be different to what the member for Bruce has provided in terms of his so-called independent legal advice as well. I suspect that the member for Bruce might have told the Labor Party’s independent legal advisers that this was a fundraiser, and they may have ruled in relation to that. But the Prime Minister has made it very clear that this particular thing that happened at Kirribilli House was not a fundraiser. I am sure that would have been part of the information that the AEC worked on. As I said, the AEC is an independent body and it is not appropriate for me to be privy to that information.

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