Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Government members of the committee—again we find ourselves in Humpty Dumpty land—see fit to say in defending the Attorney-General's assertion that he has consulted the Solicitor-General:

… it is also important to observe what that Explanatory Statement did not say. It did not say that the Attorney-General had consulted the Solicitor-General in some specific fashion. It did not say, for instance, that he had consulted the Solicitor-General about whether he thought a Direction in some precise form should be issued. It did not say that the Attorney-General had consulted the Solicitor-General by providing him with an exposure draft of the instrument. It did not say that the Attorney-General had secured the agreement of the Solicitor-General to the form of the Direction. What the Explanatory Statement actually said was:

… the Attorney-General has consulted the Solicitor-General.

They are completely contradictory statements given that the Solicitor-General was never ever in any way informed about the instrument that was going to be tabled, the legal services direction, until it was tabled in May. Senator Brandis relies on a meeting of 30 November as his defence for saying he had consulted the Solicitor-General—

Senator Brandis interjecting —