Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

He was also known to us in state parliament as the conveyancing clerk for Kawana, so perhaps that is a more appropriate way to refer to him, as well as 'the former Attorney-General'. Mr Sosso oversaw that department under former Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie and oversaw a range of controversies involving a tender that was provided to a company to run boot camps. Mysteriously, that company was an LNP donor. He oversaw the implementation of the VLAD laws, which were supposed to be about combating bikie gangs in Queensland. Those laws have been spectacularly unsuccessful: not one conviction has been recorded against a bikie. All they really came up with was the idea of putting bikies in jails in pink jumpsuits, which is something no-one really ever understood. Mr Sosso was also the director-general of that department when it and the Attorney-General had a spectacular falling out with the Queensland judiciary over, among other things, their appointment of Justice Tim Carmody as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I am interested that someone who presided over the Department of Justice and Attorney-General in Queensland at a time when there was a failure to understand the separation of powers and the importance of an independent judiciary now finds himself on a tribunal.

Mr Sosso's background with the Queensland LNP and National Party goes much further back than that. He also served within the legislation and policy branch in the justice department during the premiership of Joh Bjelke-Petersen. He advised the National Party Attorney-General during the Fitzgerald inquiry. Mr Fitzgerald, one of Queensland's most outstanding justices and legal figures ever, was highly critical of the role Mr Sosso played at the justice department when he served there during the Fitzgerald inquiry. He went on to have many other dealings and appointments under Queensland National Party governments, and now he has been rewarded further by this Attorney-General for more service by being appointed to the AAT for seven years.

We have also had Ms Saxon Rice, the former LNP member for Mount Coot-tha for one term, who has been appointed to the AAT for seven years. Ms Ann Brandon-Baker—ex-chief of staff for Scott Morrison, the current Treasurer—was appointed to the AAT for five years. Louise Bygrave—a former staffer to Tim Wilson, the member for Goldstein, when he was the Human Rights Commissioner—is now appointed to the AAT for five years. Mr Michael Manetta, who unsuccessfully ran for the South Australian parliament in 2014 for the Liberal Party, is appointed to the AAT for five years. Ms Adrienne Millbank, a researcher a Monash University who has called for Australia to abandon the UN convention on refugees, is now going to be appointed to the AAT. I am not sure whether she will be handling migration matters—one would only hope not—with that kind of attitude. They are only some of the 21 appointees with very clear links to the Liberal Party as either ex-donors, members of parliament, candidates or staffers.

In conclusion, it is very important that the Attorney-General promptly answer these questions on notice to advise the Senate of any dealings that he personally had with these appointees. We already know that 21 of these 76 appointees have very clear links to the Liberal Party or the LNP in Queensland for past services, for past donations or as past members of parliament, staffers or candidates. That was the only requirement they needed to fill in order to gain appointment to the AAT one day before the election. As I have already indicated, a number of these people are going to be holding these very responsible positions which really determine the rights of Australians all around the country. They are going to be being paid, in some cases, more that $300,000 a year for each of the seven years that they are going to be appointed. But we still have not had any clarification from the Attorney-General about the qualifications that these people held, about the experience they held or, indeed, about whether he had personal contact with any of them before he miraculously came up with a list of names that was presented to his department.