Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Scarr for the question. The advice I have is that the claim in question was managed consistently with the Commonwealth's obligation under the Legal Services Directions, and the Commonwealth has settled in accordance with legal principle and practice. In relation to the legal representation point of Senator Cash and Senator Reynolds, that was managed by the Commonwealth consistently with the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations. Obviously, Senators Cash and Reynolds were under no responsibility to seek this assistance from the government. And I have some further information which goes to the Legal Services Direction 2017, which was issued by the Attorney-General under the Judiciary Act and which sets out the binding rules for Commonwealth legal work. The claim in question was managed in accordance with those principles.