George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

It has been the longstanding position on both sides of the parliament to maintain bipartisanship on national security, and by and large, I should say, that bipartisan posture has been maintained in this parliament and the last, with the Labor Party supporting the six instalments of national security legislation to which I have referred. Unfortunately it is not an unmixed record, because in recent weeks we have seen a breakdown of bipartisanship on important aspects of our national security, as Mr Shorten, under pressure from the Left, puts his own political survival ahead of the interests of the Australian people. We are seeing the breakdown of bipartisanship in relation to the new measures that Mr Dutton announced to keep our borders safe, and we have seen confusion in the Labor Party's position on the critical issue of the American alliance, with an op-ed by Senator Wong, the foreign affairs spokesman— (Time expired)