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

I will check the date in response to your first question. In relation to the second question, I considered that, for reasons I have explained several times now and referred to at length in the statement that I have given the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, I had thoroughly consulted the Solicitor-General at the time I made the instrument. That is what I told the Senate, and I think, Senator Gallagher, if I may say so, it is very obvious from the questions that were asked of me in this chamber yesterday and the question you have just asked that what this comes down to is a semantic argument about the meaning of the word 'consult'.