Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

Twenty-eight. I perhaps should repeat that number: 28 versions transpiring over that period of time between the minister's office and the Prime Minister's office. Again, I ask you to consider this, Madam Deputy President, is that simply passing on representations?

What we found out this morning was some other interesting information about the Prime Minister's role in all of this. We discovered that on a particular date, 11 April last year, that the parliament was prorogued—and, of course, the provisions of the caretaker conventions came in. When did the minister send in this information? Well, the minister sent her approval of tens of millions of dollars of sports rorts grants at 8.46 am on 11 April. That's an important time because, at 8.29 that morning, the Governor-General prorogued the parliament and the parliament was dissolved. Just over 15 minutes after the proroguing of parliament the minister signed the documents, so the caretaker conventions were in place. (Time expired)