Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

There you go—the parliament's power to make laws is, as you say, subject to this Constitution. That means the power to make laws is subject to the power to make representations, in section 129(ii), and any reciprocal constitutional obligations would be placed on the government. The basic problem is you cannot out-legislate the Constitution, which you seem to fail to understand. In relation to the curating of any advice, the curating was actually done by the Attorney-General in cherrypicking what to ask so that it could be released. This government has a pattern of behaviour when it comes to releasing advice of the Solicitor-General, but only when it is politically advantageous to you. You cherrypick and then you release. The three that we would like to see are the three that you refused to release.

In relation to the duty to consider, does this mean that a person could litigate, as I said, to overturn a decision on the ground that a decision-maker did not adequately consider representations? Could a person litigate to, say, overturn a mining lease or exploration permit on the basis that the decision to grant the lease or permit did not adequately consider relevant Voice representations?