Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to speak on the valedictory of Senator the Hon. George Brandis, who has been a leader in this place for many years, serving as a senator for the best part of two decades since arriving to fill a casual vacancy in 2000. He's been a minister in two governments under—I thought it was three—four prime ministers. He has variously been a political warrior, sometimes hatchet man, a pedantic grammarian—I did so enjoy his corrections; at least he was ecumenical about it, so we all got it—but also, on important occasions, an extraordinarily eloquent advocate for liberalism and democracy. We saw this again today in the exposition in his valedictory of the philosophical foundations of liberalism and the importance of the institutions that safeguard our democracy. That's why it's sometimes interesting to be an opponent of Senator Brandis, because he does and says so many things with which you vehemently disagree. Occasionally, he is what we regard as unnecessarily personal, but then he'll say something extraordinarily important and eloquent with which we vehemently agree.

Born in Sydney—were you born in Sydney, George? There you go!—he recalled in an interview in 2005 that he first became interested in politics at the age of 14. He was educated by the Augustinians, I'm told, and so joins Martin Luther as a distinguished alumnus of their religious tradition. He joined the Young Liberals at 16—did you not have any fun?—and he found it was a good way to understand how the Liberal Party worked and to learn basic political skills and techniques. He became president of the Young Liberals in '81 and of course was a distinguished scholar both at the University of Queensland and while doing a Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford, subsequently practising as a barrister and solicitor. He nurtured his academic interest in liberalism, authoring Liberals face the future: essays on Australian liberalism in 1984 with Tom Harley—who I think was in the gallery—and Don Markwell and Australian liberalism: the continuing visionwith Tom Harley again and Yvonne Thompson in 1986. As he outlined, following the election of the Abbott government in September 2013, George Brandis became the First Law Officer of the Commonwealth, and after Mr Turnbull assumed the prime ministership he was promoted to be my opposite, the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

I want to first turn very briefly to bills concerning national security. The former Attorney Senator Brandis has rightly outlined that the passage of the various tranches of legislation in this area has led to an increased range of powers to prosecute and arrest foreign fighters, the disruption of money-laundering and terrorist-financing operations and increases in a range of the powers of Australia's intelligence agencies. I want to emphasise the extent to which legislation that the Attorney either introduced or spoke to in this place was supported on a bipartisan basis, and I want to acknowledge and thank him for his contribution today where he emphasised the importance of not, for political and partisan purposes, confecting a dispute with the opposition on these matters.

It is one of those few occasions where perceived short-term tactical advantage has been superseded by what I regard as a very important national interest consideration, as he outlined far more eloquently in his valedictory today.

Other actions taken by Senator Brandis included tasking the ALRC with reviews both of Commonwealth laws for their consistency with traditional rights, freedoms and privileges and of the family law system. And of course last year he supported the amendment of the Marriage Act to remove discrimination against couples of the same gender.

During his time as Attorney, as Senator Brandis pointed out, he has been responsible for quite a remarkable number of appointments, many of which have been supported across the political spectrum. These include the appointment of the new Chief Justice—the High Court of Australia's first female chief—three other High Court justices, Chief Justice Pascoe of the Family Court, a new Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court and numerous other judicial administrative appointments.

Obviously, one of the difficult periods of his time as Attorney-General concerned the breakdown of the relationship between the government and the President of the Human Rights Commission, and one wonders if they were both able to press the rewind button whether both Senator Brandis and Professor Triggs might have conducted that drama somewhat differently. Similarly, there was controversy surrounding the directions to the Solicitor-General.

I thought today, in his valedictory, the former Attorney-General articulated with great clarity the centrality to our democracy of the rule of law and of the institutions that safeguard those principles. And those are views which we perhaps don't hear often enough in this place.

Senator Brandis also served as Minister for the Arts from 2013 to 2015. He is certainly remembered for his championing of Australia's major performing arts companies. Although his approach wasn't universally applauded, it did generate some confronting artwork—some of which I've only recently become aware of, to be honest.

As Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Brandis inherited a Senate of some challenging configuration from Senator Abetz, something that continued after the 2016 election. He also took carriage of the largest number of referrals to the Court of Disputed Returns under section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act in the history of that provision.

I would say management of the Senate does require a large amount of work from many people, and my office always found dealings with his office to be courteous and cooperative. Of course, the friendship was tested a little when they called, as the bells were ringing for the commencement of the day one morning, to advise that he was going to move a motion of censure against me, which I'm pleased to note he lost.

As I noted at the end of last year, while Senator Brandis and I had a pretty competitive relationship across the table, I acknowledge and recognise the intellectual and personal qualities he brought to his roles both as Leader of the Government in the Senate and as Attorney-General. I again compliment him sincerely for two of the most moving, heartfelt and important speeches in recent months that it has been my privilege to hear. Respect for the freedom of all Australians to practise whatever religion they wish to adhere to and the right of people of the same sex to marry speak to the kind of Australia we are. That is something that Senator Brandis has reflected in his life and in the offices he has held.

Obviously, we didn't agree with Senator George Brandis on everything, but he has been prepared to advance liberal values. He has stood up against marginalisation of people based on religion at critical times in our national debate, and I do believe the cabinet will be poorer for the loss of his contribution, input and, most of all, his intellect.

In closing, I return to what he said in his first speech:

We do well to remind ourselves from time to time that, as the Prime Minister once famously said, the things which unite us as Australians will always be more important than the things that divide us.

So I wish Senator Brandis well for the next chapter in his life and, on behalf of the opposition, bid him farewell from the Senate.