Mr Robert asked the Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, in writing, on 3 February 2010:

For the 2008 and 2009 calendar years, (a) how much equipment did the Australian Embassy in the United States of America purchase on behalf of the Australian Government, including all equipment and spare parts, items purchased and their price, and (b) what was the rationale for using the Embassy rather than competitive tender or buying from Australian companies?

Mr Combet - The answer to the honourable member’s question is as follows:

An overview of the calendar years 2008 and 2009 Direct Commercial Sales purchases undertaken by the Embassy reflects that there were approximately 3000 individual purchases from several hundred vendors, with a total value of approximately US$400 Million over this period. I am not prepared to provide specific details on the grounds that the workload would be excessive and the accuracy of the detail may not be verifiable within the required timeframes.

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