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

That was, indeed, exactly what I said. Now I am going to address the issue of how he formed that opinion. This, as I said, fine legal mind formed that opinion in ignorance. He did not even bother talking to his own office about what contacts they had in this matter. He did not bother talking to Mr Hockey, who, as he has informed us, was the representative of the Commonwealth upon whom the Western Australian government members relied in forming their opinion. Sure, as he tells us, different people can come out of exchanges with different opinions, but you do not then go on to conclude an opinion of your own in ignorance.

We have all heard about convenient memories and the 'I do not recall' defence. Senator Sinodinos had it down to fine art. The 'I do not recall' defence was used so many times that the stature of the argument became very questionable. In this case, we do not have a convenient memory; we have convenient ignorance from Senator Brandis on behalf of the Commonwealth. What I took out of yesterday's statement, listening carefully to Senator Brandis as he delivered it, was that he had been sprung by the Solicitor-General in attempting to prevent the Commonwealth becoming involved in the matter and nowhere has he been able to refute that that was the case.

So we will continue for days on end to get senior commentators and others continuing to ask these questions. Remember how Senator Brandis started this with, 'No comment.' If these issues had not been canvassed in the Senate, we would be still be on the, 'no comment' response. 'The Attorney-General does not respond to questions around matters in which the Commonwealth has been engaged'—that would be his answer. But of course the heat and the temperature rose after his initial response. Pressure came from a number of areas that he did need to at least try to present what he could argue was a comprehensive statement. But we all know, despite its length, despite the grand words and the grand arguments that Senator Brandis sought to put across, there are just so many unanswered questions. The questions that Senator Watt asked today were not answered. There are so many things that Senator Brandis remains ignorant of or refuses to help us understand. Indeed, he refuses to refute the suspicion that he did seek to prevent the Commonwealth's involvement in this matter.

This is no pantomime. Sure, it has attracted humour. I was today sent a reference from the SBS about how Senator Brandis is now ordering more buses because his behaviour here has become a farce. The length of the scandals and the gaffes that reside around this Attorney-General just continue to grow. The SBS humour was that he had to order a fleet of buses so that he could throw more— (Time expired)