Senator Eric Abetz

“By seeking to amend the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act, the Greens are retrospectively trying to justify Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s contact with the Ombudsman,” Senator Abetz said today.

“The Greens are trying to imply that the Ombudsman had no other option but to write Senate Estimates questions for Senator Hanson-Young when in fact he did.”

“The core issues for the Greens are their hypocrisy in previously condemning contact between public officials and Senators, and why in this instance Senator Hanson-Young couldn’t write her own questions.” Senator Abetz said.

“Senator Brown’s charge that the criticism of Ombudsman Asher is prompted by his comments on the handling of asylum seekers rather than the proprieties of the issue is absolute nonsense.”

“The Ombudsman has recognised his error, why can’t Senator Brown?” Senator Abetz asked.

“One of the ironies of this matter is that the Ombudsman’s funding difficulties have in large part been caused by the border weakening policies advocated by Senator Hanson-Young and the Greens.”

“Much of the pressure on the Ombudsman’s budget has been caused by his workload in reviewing the greatly increased number of illegal immigration cases.”

“The best thing the Greens could do for the Ombudsman is to support the Coalition’s border protection policies,” Senator Abetz said.