Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

Claims that the Minister for Home Affairs influenced the recruitment process within the Australian Border Force are wrong and vexatious. The procedures undertaken in the matter raised in the media were normal Public Service recruitment processes managed by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. I'm advised that the procedures involved an external recruitment agency and a selection panel process to short list the best available candidates. I'm also advised that neither the minister nor his office had any involvement. Even the source of these claims, former Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg, denies involvement in the interviewing, short-listing or selection process, which of course begs the question of how he then can suggest that anyone else could have influenced the process, notwithstanding that this is a disenfranchised and now discredited former commissioner involving himself in muckraking to aid in a smear campaign pursued by Labor, the Greens and others. Questions regarding the recruitment process should be directed to the department through the proper process.