Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will not take up the full two minutes. I have some sympathy for this motion that was proposed by Senator Birmingham earlier this week, and I apologise to Senator Birmingham for keeping him in limbo. I wanted to see whether the minister was proposing to make a statement. I also agree that the timing is highly unfortunate. I would have appreciated more time, if it had been tabled today, to put some comments more firmly on the record.

What Senator Birmingham has not recognised in his comments is that the minister announced last night that the Auditor-General is being called in, which I think is an entirely appropriate course of action and should probably have occurred well before now. This issue is vexed and has major commercial players who feel aggrieved, as well as including our national broadcaster in the mix. Rather than further politicising this issue with a select committee to rake over what has occurred, it is appropriate that a senior and neutral official such as the Auditor-General take carriage of the issue, recognising also that the Australian Federal Police is involved in investigating the source of the leaks. With some sympathy for the reasoning behind this select committee motion, the Australian Greens will not be supporting it, for those reasons. Question put:

That the motion (Senator Birmingham's) be agreed to.

The Senate divided. [12:37]

(The President—Senator Hogg)

Question negatived.