The Do-nothing Coalition government is ending the year on a roll, from Domainfax
At a shambolic press conference in Cherbourg overnight, Mr Pyne shut down questions directed to Mr Guillou about the embarrassing leak, which was revealed in the Australian media after a tip-off by a staffer to South Australian senator Nick Xenophon. Neither Senator Xenophon nor his staffer were involved in the files being originally taken from DCNS by a contractor in 2011.
“Can I perhaps answer your question about the security because Mr Herve is not here to be a punching bag for the Australian press,” Mr Pyne told Australian journalists.
When Fairfax Media pointed out that it was only fair that the CEO of a company receiving $50 billion of Australian taxes should answer questions, Mr Pyne said: “Well I hope you haven’t flown all the way to Cherbourg to have a fight.”
And in farcical scenes, Mr Guillou said he did not know if he was denying his company had alleged the leak was “economic warfare”. In August, Reuters news agency cited a DCNS spokeswoman saying the company may have been the victim of corporate espionage as part of the tools used by the competition in “economic warfare”.
“Mr Herve do you still believe the Germans were behind it and do you also believe that it was a form of economic warfare or commercial espionage?” Fairfax Media asked.
“I’ve never said that, I’ve seen that in your newspapers,” Mr Guillou said.
“Are you denying that a company spokeswoman described this as economic warfare?” Fairfax Media asked.
“I think so,” the CEO responded.
“You think you’re denying it?” Fairfax Media asked.
“Yeah,” Mr Guillou.
“How would you clarify it then?” Fairfax Media pressed. At this point Mr Pyne intervened and said: “Are you going to ask me the questions?”
At a $75bn price tag, let’s just put Major Major in charge.
