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

Senator, I will take your interjection. Senator Lines interjects that these are merely statistics and it is merely a matter of collation. No, Senator Lines. You are obviously not familiar with the question. It is not. It is a question of the classification, into the different several categories identified by the question, of a large number of requests, each of which requires an exercise to be taken by the decision maker. So I merely wish to correct the record to explain (a) that there has not been a refusal to answer; (b) that the suggestion that this is merely asking for a number in relation to statistics that are collected is wrong; and (c) that the large body of work undertaken not by me or my office but by officers of my department has been embarked upon.