Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

I had not actually finished. What I was going to say to the Senate is that it just shows the arrogance of the Attorney-General. The basis of the refusal was that the letter that was requested to be tabled was a document. This is the problem the Attorney-General has with not only the Senate but also the community. It is the arrogance and what has been shown as the incompetence of the Attorney-General and Minister for Arts. He does not listen; he certainly does not listen to the community. He is disrespectful of the processes of the Senate, particularly as we have seen in budget estimates, where he enjoys reading poetry instead of listening and being part of the budget estimates process. He is going to have plenty of time to read more poetry when his actions are subject to not just one but two Senate inquiries, which were supported—for the first time, I believe—by all eight crossbenchers, who voted with Labor. One inquiry will be a review of the handling of the letter sent to the Attorney-General on the Martin Place siege gunman, Man Haron Monis.

The fact that Labor, the Greens and all the crossbenchers voted together to establish this inquiry is a clear reflection on the seriousness of this matter, and the Senate's complete lack of confidence in the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General's handling of this issue certainly beggars belief. He continued here, today, in a response to questions to give a totally implausible explanation as to the delay on why the record was not corrected. It is a completely implausible explanation, and a Senate inquiry has had to be set up to look at exactly what has happened around this very serious matter.

The second Senate inquiry will delve into the depths of the ineptitude of the Minister for the Arts, by examining the Abbott government's decision to strip $105 million from the Australia Council. Again, the Senate has had to establish a Senate inquiry. The Senate overwhelmingly voted to establish this inquiry into the decision of Senator Brandis to cut the Australia Council in order that he—as we heard in question time today in the question from Senator Collins—could establish his own personal slush fund to support his own pet arts projects. We know that in doing this Senator Brandis consulted no arts groups and only informed the Australia Council hours before announcing the funding cut in the budget. That is what Senator Brandis said in answer to the question here today.

In fact, so arrogant is Senator Brandis that he does not even feel the need to consult with his cabinet colleagues on significant issues of national security. This week we have learnt that the full federal cabinet was not shown advice from the Solicitor-General on changes to citizenship laws for suspected terrorists. So angry were the colleagues of Senator Brandis that no fewer than three senior government sources spoke to media outlets to confirm that the advice was not shown to the full cabinet. So what we have seen here with the conduct of Senator Brandis and his arrogance is the Senate on two occasions establishing inquiries into his decisions, and his own cabinet colleagues have come out —(Time expired)