Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pity that Senator Bob Brown had not sought further information about the procedures of the Public Works Committee. It has always been the case, under any government, that normally, by general agreement, the buildings and operations of ASIO and ASIS, some of the AFP work and some other functions of the Attorney-General’s Department have not been subject to scrutiny or have been exempt from scrutiny because of the very nature of their work. Therefore we do not have very detailed briefings on that nor do we have site inspections because they are normally granted exemption. So for Senator Brown to be putting up this motion is quite ill advised, in my view, and the amendment that he has made is even more ill advised, because it is my understanding that the contents of this letter, which is a confidential letter, have been published in the Canberra Times with the identifying particulars removed in any case. So for Senator Brown to bring this before the Senate is very ill advised and quite ignorant of the procedures of the Public Works Committee.