Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I have asked a question. I have asked a number of questions, and the proper procedure is for them to be answered when I sit down. But that will not be at your injunction; that will be when I am finished and not before.

If the Attorney-General was of a mind to ensure that the anticipated amendment to save the registrar’s position in Hobart would be guaranteed, why not accept this amendment tonight and get it through tomorrow? The government has made it clear it does not and will not support the retention of the registrar’s position in Hobart. It has the upper hand in all respects, in the timing and in the order of legislation before this place. The opportunity we have is to reverse the decision to abolish the registrar’s position in Hobart.

Finally, because I know the government and the opposition want to respond, Senator Stephens has said a number of times that this parliament must not interfere with the court—wrong. The Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 established the court. This parliament established the court. This parliament established the position of registrar in each of the regional offices and established the registries. It is this parliament’s power and responsibility to ensure that the law is clear and is carried out. The spirit of that law, and, I submit, the letter of it, is that the registrar should be kept in Hobart.

I believe the court is breaching the spirit of that law by abolishing the position of registrar in Hobart without seeking an amendment through this parliament, without coming to government and getting this act amended. That would be the proper way to do it. It is being done extramurally, outside the parliament, by Justice Black and the court, and that is not acceptable. That is not what the act says, not what it intended and not what we should submit to. The proper process is through this parliament and the proper way of ensuring that that is carried out is by supporting this Greens amendment here and now.