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

(Western Australia—) (): Mr McKim's statement is consistent with mine that we spoke about these issues. He also advised me that his legal advice was that they had no obligation to repay funds to the Australian government. I understand that. Fundamentally, we invested in their schools and the state education and other funding authorities have responsibility for those schools. That was an investment in the future of Tasmanian students. But I also made it clear to him that we would be taking further advice about our responsibilities and our options and made it clear to him that our primary objective, as I made clear to you, is to make sure that the investment is for the benefit of Tasmanian students and the broader Tasmanian community. We will continue to monitor the developments with an interest in making sure that the facilities that have been established are there for the benefit of Tasmanians. That is our primary interest. We will continue to pursue that interest. (Time expired)