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

Membership of a declared terrorist organisation is a crime in Australia. You speak generally about members of the Kurdish community. I know members of the Kurdish community. My friend, former Senator Ross Lightfoot, in fact used to be the chair of the Parliamentary Kurdish Friendship Group in this parliament and, through former Senator Lightfoot, I met many leaders of the Australian Kurdish community whom I hold in very, very high regard. I do not think for a moment you should assume that members of the Kurdish community are members or sympathisers of the PKK. There may be some who are sympathisers of the PKK, but that does not mean that they are members of that organisation—and I doubt there are.