Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

That will be a matter for the democratically elected parliament that you and I are members of, Senator Cash. But I also would refer you to the range of comments by constitutional experts in relation to this particular scare campaign. This claim has been comprehensively debunked by constitutional experts. The Solicitor-General has discounted it. Bret Walker, who is one of the top constitutional lawyers in the country and appears frequently in the High Court as a barrister, called the idea that litigation would impede the functioning of government 'too silly for words' in his evidence to the joint select committee. I suggest that Mr Walker probably knows more than you and I put together, Senator Cash, about what can be litigated in the High Court. Former Chief Justice Robert French, in referring to these alleged risks of litigation and impeding government activity, said:

I just don't think they're there and I think that's a reasonable consensus of a lot of constitutional scholars.

Personally, Senator Cash, I think it's worth listening to people like the Solicitor-General, Bret Walker and former Chief Justice Robert French.