Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

We in this government, when exploring issues and reaching agreements on policy outcomes, always act consistently with the agreements we have reached, as we have on this occasion. We included certain amendments to the Commonwealth procurement framework in the relevant guidelines, as Senator Cash well remembers, because it was done in the course of the debate on re-establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission. That was done. We also made a commitment to the inquiry taking place, which also happened.

We never made a blanket commitment to accept all of the recommendations coming out of that process. We are totally focused on Australia's national interest. Australia is an open trading economy. We do business with businesses all around the world. We want Australian businesses to have the best possible opportunity to sell Australian products and services around the world, and we need to ensure that we continue to protect the competitiveness of Australian businesses to sell products and services around the world.