Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I start on this debate, can I just repeat a warning I gave to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee before it embarked upon this political witch-hunt, and that is that what the Labor Party and the Greens political party are doing is politicising the role of the Solicitor-General vis-a-vis his immediate superior, the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General is responsible and answerable to this parliament and ultimately to the people of Australia. The Solicitor-General is responsible to no-one except his legal training, his commitment to the law and the Attorney-General. By raising this matter here in this political witch-hunt inquiry, what the Labor Party and the Greens have successfully done is diminish the position of the Solicitor-General generally and this Solicitor-General in particular.

I might say to these so-called independent statutory officers like the President of the Human Rights Commission and the Solicitor-General: if you want to be captured by the Labor Party's political approach, if you want to become a player in the political system, then do the right thing by your position, resign as President of the Human Rights Commission or Solicitor-General, take a real pay cut from the enormous salaries both get, stand for parliament, see if you can get people to support you and elect you to parliament, and then come into parliament and play the games. Deliberately or innocently, both the Human Rights Commissioner and the Solicitor-General have allowed themselves to be involved in the political games, and by doing that they have diminished the positions they hold and themselves.

Senator McKim seemed to think it was awful for Senator Brandis to get legal advice from elsewhere. Well, can I tell you, Senator McKim, that the fact that he holds the title of Solicitor-General does not mean that his legal opinions are any better than those of any number of very experienced silks who are available to give advice to the government and anyone else and who make their way in the courts.