Actually, the parliamentary committees, as far as I can see, do not have the degree of access that we enjoy at SIRC. I think it's because we are independent and not within Parliament or answerable to a minister that we were given those extraordinary powers of access. So there's a bit of a saw-off between whether you want an organization that has full and complete access but doesn't have any kind of political function, or whether you give it to the political arm and you restrict the access to some degree.
On March 5th, 2009. See this statement in context.