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

Senator Carr, you are being offensive. As you know, I do not stoop to that. If that is the way you choose to conduct your parliamentary behaviour, that is entirely a matter for you. Nevertheless, I understood you to be saying that the department is chasing the CSIRO this afternoon, and the inference I drew from your interjection was that you expected to get these answers imminently. If you expect to get these answers imminently, Senator Carr, I wonder why it is that the Senate is being delayed by this procedure when perhaps a polite letter to Senator Sinodinos might have sufficed. I wonder aloud that perhaps you could respond at some stage, in some manner, as to whether a polite letter or even a telephone call might have been the appropriate course to take.

Nevertheless, let us come to the subject matter of the question. The subject matter of the question, Senator Carr, is in relation to certain administrative and, in particular, budgetary decisions that were made within the CSIRO. You criticised the government for having made those budgetary decisions. And they bear, in particular, as I understand it, on decisions made internally, within the CSIRO, not by the minister. Senator Sinodinos, of course, represents the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science in this chamber. The minister, as we know, is the distinguished member for Sturt, the Hon. Christopher Pyne. So if there is a delinquency here—and I am not suggesting that there is; you are the one making that suggestion—it is not the delinquency of Senators Sinodinos. He is merely answering to the Senate and providing the Senate with information on behalf of a House of Representatives minister. Secondly, Senator Carr, in both the debate you have initiated this afternoon and in questions which not merely today but in previous weeks you have directed to Senator Sinodinos, you seem to be implying that the decision in relation to resource allocation within the CSIRO is somehow a ministerial decision. Senator Carr, as a former minister yourself—