Friday, May 15

Tony Abbott: “Well I think we do need an [iron ore] inquiry.”

Sunday, May 17

Tony Abbott: “All I want to do is to know the facts and once the facts are out there, people will be in a position to make judgements.”

Tony Abbott: “What we want to do is get to the bottom on claim and counter-claim about what’s happening inside the iron ore industry at the moment … It’s important to get to the bottom of this. That’s why I think that an inquiry could make sense.”

Monday, May 18

Greg Hunt: “It’s a healthy thing to have a review of different industries at different times … So it’s the option on the table, but clearly the Prime Minister has indicated a desire to head down that path, so you would presume that’s precisely where we are heading and there’s very broad support for that — the details need to be worked through.”

Tuesday, May 19

Joe Hockey: “No, there’s been no decision made about an inquiry into iron ore, there’s been none made. Why? Because I think it’s important to consult with all the stakeholders which is what we’re doing, and we’re consulting with the Labor Party as well. I think that’s perfectly appropriate.”

Tony Abbott: “Obviously, we believe in the free market and we certainly haven’t made any decision to have an inquiry … we don’t have to make a decision here because there has never been any proposal from this government for an inquiry.”

Wednesday, May 20

Joe Hockey: “Bill Shorten was the one that was originally entertaining a potential parliamentary inquiry with Nick Xenophon, so Bill Shorten’s got to be put on the sticky paper on this.”

Tony Abbott: “We’ve made no decision to have an inquiry.”