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

The first assertion in Senator Cash's question was that this was a decision of the government. The release was a decision of the High Court. The release was a decision of the High Court of Australia, a decision against which the government argued. But, as a government in this system, we are bound to observe the decisions of the High Court. I would have thought somebody who was a lawyer and the shadow Attorney-General might respect the separation of powers. Having said that, it is our first priority to work to keep Australians safe. And unlike those opposite, who are only interested in fighting about this, we are interested in working to fix it. We are working to fix it, and that is what we are doing.

I would remind those opposite about their inconsistency on this. First, they demanded tougher laws. Then they voted with the Greens to oppose laws to keep the community safe. First, they said to slow down, and now they say to speed up. We've done more in nine days than you've done in nine years. We know what you're doing in this— (Time expired)