Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

My question without notice is to Senator Minchin, Minister representing the Prime Minister. Minister, hasn’t the Prime Minister taken his eye off the ball when it comes to ministerial standards? Isn’t the Prime Minister personally responsible for allowing Senator Santoro’s questionable behaviour to go unchecked for some time, given that he, first, covered up Senator Santoro’s share trading breach in October 2006; second, failed to act when Senator Santoro’s Liberal mate Russell Egan Jr boasted that he hit the jackpot in being awarded 94 aged-care bed licences in January 2007; third, looked the other way when Senator Santoro fronted a Liberal Party fundraiser sponsored by an aged-care provider in January 2007; and, fourth, ignored the two ongoing Australian Electoral Commission investigations into Queensland Liberal Party fundraising? Isn’t an inquiry by a new junior minister too little, too late?