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

Mr President, the point the opposition seeks to make is this: by the conduct of the government, by the conduct of the Prime Minister, in refusing to respond to proper questions in the House of Representatives on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, by the conduct of spokesmen and senior ministers of the government in addressing this issue and in the conduct of the Australian Labor Party in this chamber this morning, the hypocrisy of the Labor Party’s commitment to a pro-disclosure culture—Senator Faulkner’s words—to a culture of transparency, the words used in the Governor-General’s speech, and to exposing ministerial staff to scrutiny by parliamentary and Senate committees, which would have been the effect of Senator Fielding’s motion, which was squashed by the Labor Party this morning, has been exposed once and for all. Had Senator Fielding’s motion not been squashed by the Australian Labor Party, which have so much to hide on this issue—as they protect a Prime Minister who has been responsible for one of the most significant national security breaches in recent times—the Senate processes could have worked.