Minister defends removing Austrade submission
A submission made by government agency Austrade criticising a government policy has been removed from a Parliamentary website.
Minister for Trade Simon Crean says the submission was removed because it hadn’t been cleared. “The submission itself was not cleared by my office; nor was it cleared through the Austrade executive. It was a clumsily worded and misguided statement,” he said.
The document reported that a plan to charge quarantine inspections in full, scrapping the current 40 percent rebate, would “adversely impact the competitiveness of many Australian exporters and ultimately could impact on trade growth in established markets around the world”.
In an interview with the ABC News, Crean denied he was gagging public servants. “I don’t mind it delivering frank and fearless advice. I’m saying it has got to get the full advice and it didn’t,” he said.
Crean indicated that after being cleaned up, the submission would return before the enquiry.
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