Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of all answers to opposition questions. To start out, I want to go to the answers from Senator Birmingham to questions put by Senator Cameron. If you are a South Australian, you would not be unaware of the position of Family First with respect to employment opportunities, particularly for young people. I think they are on the record as saying that people should be able to work for whatever level of compensation they choose. If there were to be a minimum, it may well be $2 an hour. That is not a view that is generally supported by many people in South Australia, but I respect Senator Day's right to hold that view and to promulgate that view in whatever forum he sees fit. What I really do not think is all that proper is for a relationship to develop with the coalition government which allows for the coalition to be drawn into areas of potential disrepute, to put it mildly, where the views that are promulgated about people being able to work for whatever they like—$2 an hour is probably the minimum that they should get—and, therefore, reputable organisations who train hundreds of apprentices are given the same amount of contribution as organisations promoted by Senator Day.

If we look at Senator Cormann's contribution, it was: 'Nothing to see here. No rent paid. No arrangements in place. I was completely on top of things as Special Minister of State' Then, whoops, there is a matter for which another Special Minister of State seeks legal advice, and then we in this place are considering referring a senator to the High Court for potential pecuniary interests. Senator Cormann was, at the very least, asleep at the wheel. His defence at one stage was: because there was no rent paid, there was no reason to think there was any impropriety with respect to section 44 of the Constitution. I well remember the media coverage of the fact that Senator Day refused to move into a taxpayer funded office—he refused to move into it—and said he would go rent free for six months while arrangements were made. There was always the intent to have those premises rented by the Commonwealth. For two special of ministers of state and perhaps even three special ministers of state to have had carriage of that issue beggars belief when Senator Cormann says: 'Nothing to see here. I didn't a case or anything to answer.' The fact that he is sticking to his very comprehensive statement like glue means that he did have a case to answer and he needed to defend his position. That is the reason for his very comprehensive statement.

I turn to the Attorney-General, the Honourable George Brandis. There was one particular period of time when I had some sympathy for a view expressed by Senator Brandis. It was his very unkind characterisation of the Honourable John Howard. I had some sympathy for that view when he accused the former Prime Minister of mendacity and likened him to a rodent. That is as far as it goes. There were a few people on this side who thought that maybe Senator Brandis was on the right track. Since then, there has been a complete divergence of views. There was his treatment of Gillian Trigg; his treatment of the Solicitor-General; his arrogance at Senate estimates, where here got out a book of Australian poetry and pompously proceeded to read that while we were examining the accounts of the nation; his bookcase; his treatment of entitlements. He has always made himself the story. That is the thing about the Honourable Attorney-General: he becomes the story because of the way he conducts his affairs, and it is not becoming of the chief law officer of this country to always be the story. It should be about being prudent, having due diligence, governance and proper behaviour from our chief law officer. Instead, we end up with the Honourable George Brandis becoming the story. It is always going to continue until this government does something about the Attorney-General's position and returns it to its former august position, as it should be in any government of this nation.