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

Senator Collins, I do not agree with that at all and I think it is a very unfortunate choice of words. What it implies is an attack on the independence of the Solicitor-General. Every Solicitor-General is a barrister, and every barrister is independent. Nobody can tell a barrister what to say in their advice, whether it be the Solicitor-General, whether it be the Attorney-General, whether it be the most junior man or woman admitted to the bar yesterday—every barrister is absolutely independent in the advice they give their client. That is in fact a pillar of the bar—the independence of the bar of which Mr Gleeson is a member, of which I am a member and which upholds that principle of independence absolutely.