Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am curious about where you got that from, Senator Stott Despoja. The government has outlined the normal process. Usually an examiner requires someone to attend and, on occasion, to produce documents that are associated with the original summons so that they can examine them about those documents and put questions to them. That is the purpose of an examiner. I am curious about where you got the additional, singular view about giving evidence by tendering written statements. That, in fact, might slow the process down and hamper an investigation. Obviously, if there are follow-ups required on the written statement we could end up with a lengthy period of examination. It might be a lot easier to deal with the situation by producing the person and the documents.