Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

If ever there was an example of how out of touch the frontbench of the coalition are, it is the response that Senator Brandis gave to the questions about the male-only Savage Club. Senator Brandis joined a club where women are excluded. Senator Brandis has a responsibility as the Attorney-General to make sure that there is no discrimination, yet he joined a club that is based on discrimination. He joined a club that has some bizarre rituals that are unbelievable in a modern country. They are bizarre rituals that require members, when they are greeting a new member or when a new member is being initiated, to make guttural noises and to beat their chests.

Senator Heffernan interjecting—