The Australian government knew an obscure online retailer had no experience importing PPE prior to handing it $100m and receiving 46m unusable masks at a critical point during the pandemic, documents show.

Now, internal documents released to Guardian Australia via freedom of information laws show the health department was aware of ABM’s lack of experience in importing PPE early on in the procurement process.

“Australian Business Mobiles does not ordinarily supply PPE, however, one of their directors and group chief financial officer has more than 5 years in medical device sales and distribution experience in senior executive positions for companies in Australia and is also experienced in navigating government procurement arrangements,” the email said.

“Our experience in import and distribution over those years together with the established supply chain, allowed us to meet the immediate and urgent need of the Australian community in COVID‐19 readiness and management,” the employee said.

The federal government used a “human health” exemption to suspend normal competitive procurement rules to award ABM the contracts, as it did with many Covid deals.

A spokesperson for Hunt has previously said the minister’s office referred all offers of PPE or other assistance, including those put to him by Labor MPs, to the health department and then had no involvement in any further assessment or buying decisions.

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