Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again to the minister representing the Attorney-General. I refer to the legal services direction relating to the Solicitor-General. Can the minister please explain to the House how it was possible for the Attorney-General to consult with the Solicitor-General in November 2015 about a document which did not exist until April 2016?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will call the minister to address the question to the extent that he can, given he is representing the Attorney-General.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am really amused by the fact that those opposite are interjecting so heavily about this, as if they understand even a word about the role of the Solicitor-General. Seriously, I will give credit to the shadow Attorney-General that he might actually know something about the role of the Solicitor-General. As has been well and truly ventilated by the Attorney-General already, he consulted with the Solicitor-General at a meeting in his office on 30 November about the guidance and about the direction, and that is the subject of the very comprehensive submission that he made to the Senate committee inquiry into this particular matter.