Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Let's take some of the heat out of this and reflect on what we did actually hear today and what we did hear in Senator Brandis's statement. Senator Brandis had notice this morning, in Laura Tingle's article in The Financial Review, of the most critical question that, once again, he has failed to answer. The question was: did the Attorney-General prevent, discourage or inhibit attempts to challenge a Western Australian bill that would have favoured Western Australia over federal taxpayers to the tune of $300 million? Senator Hume asks, 'What evidence do we have of that?' Well, the evidence we have is what the Western Australian government tells us; that is what the evidence is. But more than that, Senator Hume, in trying to support her argument about a pantomime, then goes on to form a very solid opinion herself—although she is talking about what is truth—over and above even what the Attorney-General claims. The Attorney-General told us today that he formed an opinion that there was no deal. This fine legal mind will tell us that he formed that opinion—