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

This was extraordinary, and as a former chair of that committee, my distinguished friend Senator Payne points out to me, that is extraordinary in her experience too. Plainly, the government was seeking to cover up something of which it was deeply ashamed, as well it might have been.

We reached the absurd position where I asked a series of questions of Mr Roger Wilkins, the secretary of the department, who had no idea what the answers were—nor would he have had reason to, not being responsible for the conduct of this litigation—and he had to beckon Mr Damien O'Donovan to the table so that Mr Damien O'Donovan could whisper in his ear and he could then relate to the committee what Mr O'Donovan, sitting in the committee room himself, and with all the answers in his possession, could have told us directly. It was a solemn farce and a disgrace to the process.

I am convinced that Mr Damien O'Donovan would not have risen to the relatively high office he holds in the Australian Government Solicitor unless he was a very good lawyer. And he would not have been put in charge of this litigation unless he was a very good litigator. And yet this litigation on behalf of the Commonwealth was conducted bizarrely. The only explanation is that it was conducted under political instructions by the Attorney-General who, as the evidence came out, micromanaged that litigation. And that is a disgrace and a very, very poor reflection upon her.

It was also revealed during evidence that no fewer than 17 solicitors in the Australian Government Solicitor were engaged in the litigation, and it was said—