Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

The government do not support the motion moved by Senator Xenophon. We cannot comply with this request to produce the document as the document in question is subject to public interest immunity. The report prepared by Don Winter and John White on the performance of the Hobart class air warfare destroyer program was commissioned by cabinet and played an important role in cabinet deliberations. Tabling this document would make many of the cabinet's deliberations, on the basis of cabinet's decisions, publicly available. Release of the mentioned report could also damage the commercial interests of the Commonwealth, as it relates to a range of sensitive commercial negotiations underway. We acknowledge that the senator makes mention of the commercial implications of this motion in the second paragraph of this motion; however, the entire report is considered deeply sensitive to commercial interests, current and possible future tenders. Already publicly available is the summary document of the report, which does not disclose sensitive cabinet deliberations or commercially sensitive information.