Mr. Martin Fraser:

I thank the Senator. I did address some of the issues raised, so I am at risk of repeating myself.

There are two versions of the memo to which the Senator referred. The first version was sent out on the Friday. It was made clear to members of the Government - it goes to everybody - that the Minister was going to propose appointments of ambassadors and a special envoy but no names were included. The final version of that memo was then brought to the Cabinet meeting by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the Tuesday, which is exactly the correct procedure. It was circulated to the members of the Government on the Tuesday morning. The email to which the Senator referred, that was sent on the Monday night, was a final draft of the heads of missions, HOMs, memo. In my mind, and I am sure in the mind of the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, it was a memo about ambassadorial appointments and heads of missions, HOMs. It is absolutely standard that I would be given a copy of such a memo in advance. It could be the day before or on the morning of the meeting, just so that I have it with the papers for the Cabinet meeting. As I said, I sent it on to my two colleagues in the Cabinet secretariat. They would have put it on my file, so that it was on my file for the Cabinet meeting. That is what happened.