Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a personal explanation in relation to comments made by Senator Ludwig and Senator Mark Bishop.

Leave granted.

During question time Senator Ludwig used comments made by me earlier today in relation to the inquiry into the Mohamed Haneef affair and sought to imply that those comments were direct support for the Labor Party’s investigation launched today and announced by the Attorney-General. Senator Bishop followed that up by using the same comments again, no doubt from briefing notes provided by Senator Ludwig. There are two things that Senator Ludwig should have thought of before using those comments. One was the timing of my comments, which were made prior to the announcement by the Attorney-General—

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Bit of a glass jaw, Senator Birmingham!

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

of any of the details of this inquiry, Senator Wong, and so of course I did not have any awareness of the details of the Attorney-General’s remarks. In particular, he should have been aware of the comments that were made in addition to those—the caveats put around any inquiry that should take place. By that I mean the non-politicisation of this matter—and certainly it sounds as though the matter risks being politicised—and that it not be selective in its nature.

In essence, the matters that I raised were that, if there were to be an inquiry, it should be by the right body and at the right time, not be selective and not be politicised. Senator Ludwig and Senator Bishop chose to ignore those remarks and simply focus on the nature of the inquiry itself. As Senator Brandis has rightly pointed out, the inquiry announced by the Attorney-General is not by the right body nor at the right time, and such an inquiry should be considered by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity and undertaken at the completion of investigations by the AFP. Senator Ludwig and Senator Bishop were incorrect in their assertions about my comments. The comments I made were very clear—that nobody should seek to politicise national security, that maintaining confidence in national security is of the utmost importance and it should not be politicised—and should not be misinterpreted or used out of context.