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4USTRALIA
FOR MEDIA 11 January 1988
My Department has today responded to a Freedom of
Information request which the Leader of the Opposition ' made
on 31 December 1987 about Mr John Brown's resignation.
All documents have been released other than those which are
exempt under the FOI Act. The exempt documents and they
are few relate directly to Cabinet discussions, legal
professional privilege or contain information which is
commercial in confidence. The matters to which the
documents relate have already been aired at length in
public. There are two distinct aspects in these matters. The first
relates to my involvement in the processes that led to AAV
Australia being given the contract in April 1987 to produce
the Australian theatre at Expo. The second relates to the
events in December last year which led to Mr Brown's
resignation. I have made it clear before that my own involvement early in
1987 was simply to ensure that due process was being
followed in the selection of a tender. My attention was
drawn in February 1987 to concerns about the adequacy of the
tender processes related to awarding a contract to produce
the Australian theatre exhibit at Expo. As the Chairman of
Cabinet, I arranged for the matter to be discussd on 24
February. As a result of that discussion Cabinet agreed
that new tenders would be called and assessed by a panel
chaired by an official from the Department of Local
Government and Administrative Services the organisation
responsible for Commonwealth purchases. This was announced
by Mr Brown on 24 February.
Mr Brown told Cabinet on 13 April 1987 about the results of
these new tender processes and that he intended to accept
the recommendation that AAV Australia be given the contract.
He announced this on the same day.
My role in these events, through Cabinet, was to ensure that
the proper tendering processes were followed and this was
done, as the documents clearly show.
The subsequent handling of the matter was properly left to
the Minister and his Department.
The documents also indicate that the 24 February Cabinet
decision made no reference to voting rights of members of
the panel. 003850
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In relation to the events in December 1987 leading to Mr
Brown's resignation, the Leader of the Opposition has
claimed that I must have known before newspaper reports on
17 December that Mr Brown had inadvertently misled the House
of Representatives on 10 December. The fact is I did not
know, and the released documents confirm this.
Mr Brown's statement of 10 December was not brought to my
notice until 17 December, nor was my Office or my Department
aware until that day that Mr Brown had inadvertently misled
the House. Moreover, I would not have expected my Office or
my Department to have known unless they were advised by Mr
Brown, his Office or his Department which they were not.
As indicated earlier, the handling of this matter was
properly left with the Minister and his Department once it
was established earlier in the year that due process was
being followed. 003851