Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz, I used the word 'deliberately', that is true; I should probably replace it, I agree with that. In his statement, Senator Sinodinos does not go to when he knew about the arrangement. I would say to the chamber: if you are the chair of a company, and a multimillion dollar agreement—which is described subsequently in the Commission Against Corruption inquiry as being a sham loan agreement—is entered into the day after you became chair—I do think it is incumbent upon Senator Sinodinos to explain when he became aware of that. It does seem somewhat odd that you could be chair of a company which enters into such an extraordinary agreement—on the day after you have become chair—and you would have no knowledge about it. It may be that Senator Sinodinos knows nothing about it. It may be that he knows something about it. It may mean—