House debates Questions without Notice
Oil for Food Program
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:21 pm
Mr Speaker, could I assure you that we do accept the Treasurer’s expertise in disgusting factionalism!
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The Leader of the Opposition will come to his question.
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the legal opinion—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Government Members:
Government members interjecting—
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
You are such a gutless goose, aren’t you?
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
I withdraw. My question is to the Prime Minister.
Peter Costello Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The remark is quite in order. Nobody better than the Leader of the Opposition would know a disgusting, gutless goose if he saw one!
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to legal opinion provided by former president of the Law Council of Australia and former commission of inquiry head, Mr Bret Walker SC, which states:
The full deployment of the royal commission’s power—
talking about the Cole commission—
to investigate and make findings of fact cannot squarely address the question whether there has been any Commonwealth wrongdoing.
Given that Mr Walker’s legal opinion is based on an analysis of both Mr Cole’s existing terms of reference and Mr Cole’s subsequent statement explaining his terms of reference, will the Prime Minister now widen Mr Cole’s powers so he is totally unfettered in uncovering the truth of who is responsible for this $300 million wheat for weapons scandal?
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
Without in any way criticising the legal expertise of Mr Walker, which I do not seek to do, the unavoidable reality for the Leader of the Opposition is that Mr Cole QC—whose repute in the legal profession is at least the equal of that of Mr Walker if not, given his greater experience, superior—has made it very plain that he has ample powers to make the relevant findings of fact. He has made it perfectly plain that if he wants additional terms of reference he will ask for them. Both by our response to date and by what I have said, if he asks for wider terms of reference, he will get them.