Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

My question to Senator Brandis yesterday did not insult Commissioner Heydon. It sought some straightforward information that the government has been seeking to conceal for quite some time. Instead, in his conditional withdrawal Senator Brandis claimed that I uttered words attacking Commissioner Heydon. This is simply untrue. I invite all senators to review the Hansard of yesterday's question time. I did not hear what Senator Brandis said in question time yesterday because of all of the noise in the chamber. I thank the President for his comments this morning to that effect. On reviewing the Hansard I saw that I had been described as 'dishonest and sleazy', which is disgraceful. I will not repeat today the words that Senator Payne described as inaudible, because they were obviously heard. The point is the insults that this government is coming forward with to try to conceal its fragile political status. Why is it fragile? It is fragile because the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, has put his trust in the judgement of people such as Senator Brandis to make balanced decisions on who should conduct a royal commission. We see now from answers to questions today that Senator Brandis did not have an appropriate process for determining someone. He had no short list. The cabinet had no short list. He picked Commissioner Heydon. He claims it was on the basis that he wanted 'the best black-letter lawyer'. I do not know that being a black-letter lawyer is necessarily the best criterion for someone to look into complex workplace relations matters and the behaviour of registered organisations. However, I can understand that Senator Brandis would be happy to have a capital-C conservative lawyer, which is what I understand a black-letter lawyer to be. Let us look at the other point that I raised in questions today, which is about the secrecy—