There were two cabinet discussions, one by the COVID committee and then ratification at cabinet near the end of May.
We were not aware of any connection of the finance minister. The Prime Minister's involvement with the charity over a long period of time, of course, was in the public domain. I must say that, of course, one of the standard means of dealing with conflict of interest, or the appearance of conflict of interest, is disclosure.
In a sense, the Prime Minister's involvement was in the public domain, and I must say that it did not particularly cross my mind that there was anything that needed to be disclosed because this was a well-known fact at the time.
I would also say, Chair, that given the importance of the issue to the government's overall efforts to deal with the impacts of the pandemic, and given the scale of the contribution up to $900 million—I would emphasize for the committee, “up to”—I do not see a way that the Prime Minister or the finance minister responsible for public funds could not have had involvement in the policy development and in the approval of finances on this scale.