Senator CRANE(6.05 p.m.) —I would like to make some brief comments on the report by the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee into the purchase of the precision aerial delivery system, PADS, by Airservices Australia. I do not disagree with most of what Senator Bob Collins has said about what is in this report. In particular, I want to emphasise the exoneration of the Minister for Transport and Regional Development (Mr Sharp) for in his involvement in this particular process. That is dealt with in two chapters of the report and also in the findings.

There is no question that the findings of this committee, as Senator Bob Collins said, are very harsh on the board and the chairman. That is a matter that the minister will have to deal with. In the couple of minutes I have—I know business must move on—I would like to briefly highlight that there was nothing forthcoming from Senator Bob Collins. Hopefully something might be forthcoming from the shadow minister for transport, the member for Melbourne (Mr Tanner), in the other place in terms of the campaign that they carried out with regard to Minister Sharp while this hearing was going on. I quote a particular question that was asked of Senator Alston by Senator Bob Collins:

. . . his understanding was that the minister had approved both the re-evaluation of the equipment and its subsequent purchase? Are you also aware that the committee was given a letter by the senior adviser to the minister, Mr Wallis, which clearly indicates the extent that both he and his minister were involved in the matter? In the face of this evidence, it is clear, minister, that Minister Sharp has caused you to mislead the Senate.

That is a very serious claim from Senator Collins. It was done on half information. I believe that Senator Collins and the shadow minister, Mr Tanner, from the other place owe Minister Sharp an apology for the way they picked up a half truth and ran with a particular aspect of this case. As we got all the evidence and all the information on the table for this report, it became quite clear that this claim, this charge, this press campaign, was being run on a false premise.

Furthermore, at that time—and this will be shown in Hansard—Senator Collins himself questioned the accuracy of the evidence being put forward before the committee by Mr Forsyth. He questioned it himself, yet that did not stop him running this particular campaign. I call on both those gentlemen to do the honourable thing and recognise the fact that they were using half information, running a campaign on a false premise.

I will leave my comments at that. I re-emphasise, firstly, that the minister and his adviser were exonerated. They only got involved when they were asked to get involved to confirm a couple of aspects of it, which I would determine normal ministerial behaviour. Secondly, it was most disappointing to me as a member of that committee to find out the processes that were gone through. Hopefully, lessons can be learned for other government instrumentalities so we do not see an occurrence such as this again.