Then-minister Peter Dutton was sent a briefing note about the audit, and he simply indicated he had “noted” the report without having a discussion with his department.
A damning internal Home Affairs audit shows Paladin, the contractor paid $532 million to run the Manus Island detention centre, was never properly assessed for its ability to run the centre, and the department failed to consider the corruption and fraud risks of working in Papua New Guinea.
Questioned in a Senate estimates committee on Monday about her department’s failings, Foster also blamed the department’s previous bosses for the failings in letting the Paladin contract, saying “the processes were not adequate” and “we have absolutely learned from the past”.
Labor senator Deborah O’Neill, who led the questioning of the department on the issue on Monday, said Dutton should have shown more interest than simply circling “noted” on a briefing document, saying: “His response was to note it … and the show rolled on and half-a-billion got spent”.
“I don’t think he would mind me quoting him when he said it would take the wisdom of two Solomons to identify, in the complex arrangements and over the length of time, which individual officers, and at what level, accountability should rest,” Foster said. “I don’t want to verbal him, but my understanding is that he did not feel that it was productive to go back in time and seek to unravel that.”
But Coalition home affairs spokesperson James Paterson said during a press conference that Richardson’s and Foster’s comments merely reflected the complexity of the issue.
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