Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, he did. The departmental processes were what he talked about—about being given full briefings. What we have learnt through the media—even though we have heard Minister Scullion today make some changes to the story—is that when Mr Turnbull announced the royal commission he said:

This needs a thorough inquiry. We need to move quickly on that, get to the bottom it, and expose what occurred and expose the culture that allowed it to occur and allowed it to remain unrevealed for so long.

The first thing he really needs to do is talk to his own minister, because it is becoming quite apparent that Minister Scullion was aware of what was going on prior to the ABC Four Corners report.

We have had, since then, a number of different reports that have alleged that Senator Scullion made these comments. These reports are completely at odds with what Senator Scullion said today. Senator Scullion, according to a media report:

… said he "didn't know anything about" the allegations prior to last week's episode, last night admitted asking his department for advice about the Don Dale centre in October last year after reading a media report of findings by the NT Children's Commissioner.

That is what he said. That is what has been reported: that he had asked for a brief in October last year and he did nothing about it. It appears that he did nothing about it.