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

I think probably the most extraordinary aspect of the questions and statements we've just heard from Senator Cash is that, as a former attorney-general of this country and current shadow Attorney-General, she has suggested that we can't trust the High Court. I think that is a pretty extraordinary statement from someone who has been, and aspires to be, the first law officer of this country, but we all have different standards, I guess.

She has also continued the pattern of misquoting former High Court chief justice Robert French and former justice Kenneth Hayne. I think it has already been well established that a number of coalition MPs and senators have misquoted those two eminent judges, and, unfortunately, the person who aspires to be the first law officer of the country has done it again. The bill has been extensively scrutinised by some of the best legal minds in the country. They include the Constitutional Expert Group and the Solicitor-General. They have concluded that the bill is legally sound, and any suggestion to the contrary goes against the advice of the Solicitor-General and the Constitutional Expert Group, which includes former High Court judges and some of the most eminent constitutional scholars in the country. If Senator Cash wants to say they're wrong, then that she's entitled to do that.