Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Therefore, I stand absolutely by my comments that this matter should have gone straight to court and not been filtered through the political process.

The second point I would make is this—and if the opposition regarded the comments that emerged in the court as repellent in their attitude towards women as we do on this side of the House, they would join me in giving an unqualified condemnation of those comments—that I am advised the government has entered into a deed with Mr Ashby which provides releases to the Commonwealth and gives effect to the settlement reached. The government takes sexual harassment in the workplace very seriously. That is the very reason that these matters belonged in the court from the first place, and did not belong—