Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Paterson, that's not the question I asked you, is it? I simply asked you: why don't you believe we can do just as well on national security, when it comes to national security, as you two can do? Can you provide an explanation? Some of us have worked very hard in this area. Some of us have always had private briefings, including from your party itself—and not just me; there have been others over the years who have had those national security briefings, and they were big and fast—I was getting them every three months there for quite some time—but that has never spilled out. It just bothers me, and I think that whole trust thing is a smackdown when your party was more than happy—and it wasn't just me; it was former senators Patrick and Xenophon in the past, and there have been a couple of others who had all of that. You trusted us in those rooms to have those national security meetings, and now it seems we're not trusted enough to take those sorts of positions if they are offered.