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

Senator Wright, you have changed. You used to be a serious person—I am sorry about that!

The fact is that on no occasion have I personally attacked the president of the Human Rights Commission. And if you make that allegation, Senator Wright, I invite you to identify a single statement I have made in which I have attacked the president of the Human Rights Commission. To say that the government has lost confidence in the reputation for political impartiality of the statutory head of an agency is not a personal attack; it is something that a government or, indeed, any member of the Senate—and a conclusion that a government or, indeed, any member of the Senate—in an appropriate case, is entitled to arrive at. And if that person happens to be the minister, the minister has an obligation to be honest with the public about the fact that that is their conclusion and the reasons for it. That is what I have sought to do.