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

Senator Di Natale, can I remind you of the history of the Manus Island detention centre. First of all, the Manus Island detention centre was established under a memorandum of understanding between the Rudd government shortly before the 2013 election and the government of New Guinea.

Might I also remind you, Senator Di Natale, that the offshore processing regime—albeit in this case in respect of a similar MOU entered into with the government of Nauru—was the subject of a legal challenge in the High Court, the judgements in which were delivered earlier this year. I pointed this out to you before, Senator Di Natale—and I do not know why you persist in saying what you now know to be not untrue—the High Court decided by majority that, under the terms of that memorandum of understanding, those camps were not being conducted by Australia.