Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for the point he made. As I said at the outset, in light of matters in the public domain, I am outlining for the benefit of the House the action I took. Obviously matters in the public domain over the weekend and indeed yesterday motivated the course of action that I have taken. I am outlining to the House the very important matter. I will continue to quote the advice from my department:

In these circumstances, I advise that an appropriate course of action for you to take at this stage would be to request the Australian Federal Police to contact the New South Wales Police to ascertain whether they would be assisted by the Australian Federal Police conducting an investigation as well.

I, in turn, acting on that advice, wrote to Commissioner Mick Keelty. In the concluding paragraph I said:

In light of the fact that the investigation and matters now in the public domain over the weekend and yesterday—

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