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

Senator Carr, I do not know why you waste the Senate's breath asking questions you already know the answer to. Of course it is not the government's position. The government's position is as articulated by the Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, and by the cabinet and the ministry.

But, nevertheless, there are different views in our party room. We are not embarrassed about that. We do not run away from that. We do not seek to hide it; we welcome it. We welcome the fact that in the Liberal Party and the National Party we have a culture that is hospitable to the expression of a variety of views on important public issues. Apparently, unlike the party that you represent, Senator Carr, we think that from the variety of different voices engaged in a discussion we are more likely to arrive at the best outcome. So we welcome all voices in this debate, but in particular we welcome the work of Dr Alan Finkel.