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

As I stated this morning, this matter is a serious test for Mr Shorten, who last year dealt with Senator Dastyari by a slap on the wrist, benching him for less than five months, only then to reward him with a senior parliamentary position in this chamber.

This morning, rather than calling for Senator Dastyari to provide a full account to the public and the parliament, Mr Shorten has issued a statement that appears to excuse Senator Dastyari's deliberate concealment of his conversations with Mr Huang because:

… he did not pass on any classified information …

The opposition leader has so spectacularly failed to grasp the importance of the situation that he appears to consider it acceptable for one of his senior colleagues to advise foreign nationals on how to conceal their conversations from Australian security agencies.

Senator Jacinta Collins interjecting—