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

I would be delighted to, Mr President.

Senator Wright, really and truly—I thought you were a little bit better than asking questions that are so glib and trivial they could have come from Senator Conroy. The fact is, Senator Wright, that I am sorry to say the government has lost confidence in Professor Gillian Triggs as President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. It is absolutely essential that the Human Rights Commission and all of its officers command the confidence of both sides of politics—the opposition and the government. In particular, for the very reason bizarrely explained by Senator Moore in her contribution this morning—because the Human Rights Commission on occasion has to criticise the government of the day. And the only way in which the Human Rights Commission can be credible when it embarks on a task like that is to be seen, like Caesar's wife, to be beyond blemish—in this case, beyond political blemish.