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

No, Senator Fifield, perhaps not. Or do you think the CEO of Xstrata was the dummy in the room—who had no idea what they were talking about when it came to minerals taxation? I suspect not. I do not want to be cynical; I do not want to be sarcastic or scathing, but I suspect not. I suspect the two people in that room who least knew what they were doing were Ms Julia Gillard, whose entire life experience before coming into this place had been as a dodgy trade union lawyer, and Mr Wayne Swan, who, as I said, I have known for 35 years. He was a dope then and he is a dope still. They came out of that room and Julia Gillard was smiling—