Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. If he'd paid attention to the entire response I gave yesterday, he would have understood that the point about the prosecution of journalists is not that the A-G is required to give consent but that the ALP is asking us to rule out consent even before any advice is received from any of the relevant agencies, which would be unprecedented and most likely unlawful. There is an established process for the investigative authorities to look at these matters and hand that over to prosecution authorities, and then there is the process for the Attorney-General. What the Leader of the Opposition wants to do is throw that all the way. He wants to make the decision, if he were Prime Minister, about who gets prosecuted or who doesn't before those agencies have even considered the matter. What I said yesterday is exactly what I mean, and that is that no-one should be prosecuted on the basis of what occupation they hold. The only basis upon which they should be prosecuted is if they have broken the law. I'll ask the Attorney-General to add to the answer.

See this speech in context