George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, to contribute to the discussion, given that the purpose of this report is to enable members of the Exclusive Brethren who were mentioned by Senator Milne and Senator Bob Brown to put their rejoinder on the public record, it occurs to me that it perhaps is not very helpful, by the tabling of a book about the Exclusive Brethren which is evidently very critical of them, to continue to escalate the charge and countercharge about this particular sect or organisation through the process of documents tabled in the Senate. I wonder if I might, through you, Mr Acting Deputy President, suggest to Senator Brown that he consider the position that he withdraw his request to table this manuscript. He has indicated that he is going to contribute to debate on the report at some time in the future after he has had an opportunity to read it. In the meantime, he might enable other senators to have a look at this book he wants to table and might also reconsider his position.