Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Sometimes Senator Nettle can’t help herself. The answer was pretty clear: the Commonwealth thinks it is better not to have litigation. Obviously, the Commonwealth thinks it is better not to have litigation. The senator made reference to some time period in relation to Ms Solon. I make the point with respect to Ms Solon that the government very quickly sent a Centrelink social worker to the Philippines. I can see no reason—I could not then and cannot now—why Ms Solon was not brought back to Australia earlier and why we could not then have proceeded to have a negotiated settlement, which is what is under way in relation to that matter. But I think the questions in relation to that are best addressed to her lawyers. At the time they issued a press release saying that I was delaying, when I was in fact not the negotiator—in this case it was Family and Community Services—which indicated to me that they were not quite sure what was going on. (Time expired)