1.1 The farcical nature
of this inquiry is no better demonstrated than by the process of the tabling of
the Interim Report. The Labor
Party and Greens Political Party majority of the committee are submitting a
24-page Chair’s “Interim” Report when the usual practice is for interim
committee reports to the Senate to consist of a one-page advice seeking an
extension of time. The Chair scheduled a meeting to adopt this report 90
minutes after it was supplied to government Senators. It is not humanly
possible for Senators to read a 24-page interim report, analyse its content and
formulate a cogent response at the same time as Senators are otherwise engaged
in ordinary activities for a regular day in the Senate.
1.2 Government
Senators have serious concerns about most elements of this Inquiry’s conduct,
but to name just a few of these concerns:
-
The
conduct of the inquiry has been based entirely on confected allegations of
misconduct that have been comprehensively refuted by the entirety of the
evidence received by the Inquiry to date;
-
The
inquiry has heard testimony from 11 high-ranking public officials from the
Attorney-General’s Department, the office of Australian Government Solicitor,
the Australian Taxation Office and the Department of Treasury which have
generated hundreds of pages of Hansard and have not adduced any evidence that
supports the false and politically-motivated allegations upon which the Inquiry
is based;
-
On
the contrary, the assertion in the Chair’s Interim Report that there was a deal
between the Western Australian and Commonwealth governments has been
comprehensively disproved by evidence from the Australian Taxation Office;
-
The
conduct of this inquiry has diverted the personnel and resources of ministerial
offices, parliamentary offices, and senior public officials, away from their
core business of serving the Australian taxpayer, demonstrating once again the
willingness of the Labor Party and the Greens Political Party to divert the
resources of the Parliament, and the Australian taxpayer, into pointless
inquiries designed to generate fake news headlines that further their own, and
the unions’, electoral objectives; and
-
Hearings
of this farcical inquiry have been scheduled at times when government Senators
have advised they are not available, denying witnesses the procedural fairness
implicit in the conduct of a reputable parliamentary inquiry.
1.3 The
Chair’s Interim Report makes repeated references to, and allusions about,
whether a direction was drafted that would have prevented the Commissioner of
Taxation from intervening in the Bell Act matter. Evidence to the inquiry has
amply demonstrated that no such direction was ever issued. Additionally, as the
Chair’s Interim Report itself quoted (at 2.40):
Neither
the commissioner nor I, or any other decision-maker in the ATO, were lent on by
a minister or their office or directed to do anything other than what we did.[1]
1.4 It is
clear from the evidence that the Attorney-General has at all times acted with
the utmost propriety, in accordance with advice and established legal
processes, and has defended the Commonwealth’s interests in a manner that would
satisfy the most diligent scrutiny. The evidence shows that the
Attorney-General’s account of his involvement in matters relating to the Bell
Act is absolutely truthful and unchallengeable.
Senator
the Hon Ian Macdonald
Deputy
Chair
Senator
David Fawcett
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