Senator O'BRIEN (6:30 PM) —by leave—I wish to make a very short contribution again in this debate. As I was saying, this matter that I have been referring to goes to the question of Mr Foley and his position on the CASA board. I will go into that matter in more detail at a later time. But from the point of view of the selection process, it is clear that Mr Foley's prospects of succeeding in his application for the job were significantly enhanced by his participation as a board member on the development of the job description for the position for which he was applying. Clearly, no other candidate for the position of Assistant Director, Aviation Safety Compliance, had access to this detail or input into the development of the safety compliance position enjoyed by Mr Foley. I therefore fail to understand how Mr Skehill could conclude that Mr Foley was the best candidate, based on the evidence before him, both from the point of view of the recruitment process and the unfair and significant advantage provided to Mr Foley through his access to details of the position through Mr Willoughby. In my view, Mr Skehill's report, rather than the conclusions that he has drawn, give the minister, Mr Anderson, no option but to direct CASA to again stand Mr Foley aside and establish a new selection process for the safety compliance position.

Senate adjourned at 6.32 p.m.