Mr BRERETON(5.41 p.m.) —This afternoon in this House we have witnessed the most incredible end to an incredible week which has bathed this government in absolute shame and the nation in disarray. There has been a series of revelations that no-one on either side of this House could possibly have believed could have been the case had we not been here and heard them for ourselves.

The very sequence of events, starting with the revelations on Channel 9 about the cover-up of more than $8,700 in false, fraudulent claims by the former Minister for Transport and Regional Development (Mr Sharp)—which were hidden away by the former Minister for Administrative Services (Mr Jull) in his administration—leads to the knowledge we have now that this could never have been made public to the people of Australia were it not for the fact that it was leaked and the subject of that broadcast.

We have seen the questioning that has occurred since that fateful evening, and we have seen revelation after revelation. The press today were carrying the story about the Prime Minister (Mr Howard) and his actions in stepping in so speedily and swiftly—his outstanding demonstration, many people said today, of leadership. And ringing in their ears were his words, spoken here in this parliament only yesterday. He said:

I should also inform the House that I was not informed of these matters when the adjustments were made in May of this year. Given the circumstances, that also was an oversight which should not have occurred.

That was ringing in everyone's ears. People have a right to be able to believe a Prime Minister, briefed since last Saturday—when he returned from the South Pacific Forum—in respect of these matters.

He went on to say later in question time, in answer to another question from the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Beazley):

I might also, in the interests of full disclosure, make it plain that I knew nothing, as I said in my earlier statement, about these repayments of this money or about these matters when these events occurred.

These are the words of a Prime Minister, and the people of Australia have a right to be able to believe their Prime Minister. And yet this afternoon, at the eleventh hour, when there is no time left for the debate, and the parliament has resumed, we have this dog's act by the Prime Minister, who comes into this chamber and reveals the memorandum, saying that the knowledge has been in his office, amongst his best friends, his two closest confidants, for a matter of months.

Mr Bevis —His most senior adviser.

Mr BRERETON —His most senior adviser. I am reminded of those words of Paul Keating when he quoted the words of Mr Howard who was then Leader of the Opposition:

We want to assert the very principle that the truth is absolute, the truth is supreme and the truth is never disposable in national public life.

By golly, it is not going to be in the course of the days and weeks ahead in this parliament. What we have seen is a shameful performance from a Prime Minister—and one that must surely cost him his job.

Let us make it absolutely clear. This cover-up, this conspiracy to keep the truth from the people of Australia, did not stop with the former minister for transport or with the administration of the former Minister for Administrative Services; it went right to the very top, to the pinnacle. And there is only one way, in the national interest, that this matter can be resolved properly—that is, not with an Auditor-General's report but with a full and open judicial inquiry, armed with the full powers of a royal commission, able to take evidence on oath and to compel witnesses to give evidence. That is the only way that national honour can be restored. That is the only way that transparency can be returned to government in this nation.

If they are not prepared to announce it today, surely in the course of the next two days they will be forced to. The name that is ringing in all our ears is the former leader of another great nation, one Richard Nixon, who was dragged kicking and screaming into resignation. This will be no different, because this sin is Watergate all over again.