Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Johnston for his question. I do not have a specific brief on the tender to which he refers. I am aware that we have, under successive governments, tendered for contractors to move Australian personnel through the Middle East and other regions and that we have also tendered for the movement of equipment et cetera. I know it is an issue he is interested in. It was an issue I was interested in when I was shadow defence minister because I think there was a Russian company doing it at the time and there were concerns about whether or not they had enough operating capital and were a reliable enough provider.

Senator, you would be aware that I would not have a brief with the level of detail which you seek. I do not know whether you pursued this at estimates and I do not know whether this is an ongoing matter, but I am certainly prepared to ask the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, if he can provide me with a brief on this particular tender and the issues surrounding it. If he is able to do that, then I will obviously make it available to you at the first opportunity.