Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is the Attorney-General, Senator Brandis. I refer to the failure of the Attorney-General and the foreign minister to correct the record for a full parliamentary week after misleading evidence was provided on the provision of the Monis letter to the Martin Place siege review. Can the Attorney-General confirm that the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet advised his department at 12:15 pm on Monday, 1 June that they had not received the letter? Can he confirm that, at 5:30 pm that Monday, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet asked the Attorney-General's Department when the false claim would be corrected? Why did the Attorney-General ignore the advice on that Monday from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and fail to correct the record until the afternoon after question time of Thursday, 4 June?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Collins, I am perplexed by you. I am perplexed because I thought that you were a member of a Senate committee that, at the moment, was considering this question and that the hearings of that Senate committee were current. So how you can be a member of a Senate committee examining a matter which is still current and have announced conclusions about it—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order on relevance. This is a very serious matter, and what Senator Collins has put to the Attorney-General—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a point of order?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is relevance. The question directly went to the advice from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on two occasions on Monday, 1 June which appear to have been ignored by this minister in his failure to correct the record after that advice twice. He may think that it is amusing to criticise Senator Collins

I happen to think, and the opposition happens to think, that misleading the Senate is actually a very serious charge.

Government senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my right! Senator Wong, the minister was barely into his answer and I cannot at this point in time say that he is not going to be directly relevant to the question, so I call the minister.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I was merely making the point that it is very strange for a senator who sits on a committee examining a matter, where the proceedings of the committee are still current, to be announcing conclusions already before all of the evidence has been heard. So, Senator Collins, your question is actually inappropriate, but you do rather tip in your hand as somebody who has prejudged the issue. In any event, Senator Collins—

Honourable senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! On my right and my left!

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order on relevance. Criticism of Senator Collins is not relevant to the question asked. He is wasting time; he has gone over a minute. The Senate deserves an explanation of how you misled the Senate for four days after the Prime Minister's department advised you of such.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on the point of order, the Leader of the Opposition has form in using points of order to get up and lecture people and make speeches, and I urge you to call her to account, rather than listening to the spurious points of order.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There is no point of order. Both sides come to order. It would assist if we allowed the minister to be heard. I had trouble listening to the last 15 seconds of the minister's answer. Minister, you have 57 seconds.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the matter is as important as the Leader of the Opposition says it is, perhaps I could be heard in silence when I answer the question.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Apparently not. Apparently it is not being treated seriously by the opposition, but, nevertheless, let me proceed with my answer. Senator Collins, in any event, your question is based on a false premise. I have addressed this more than once before. The record was corrected immediately—immediately it was confirmed to me that the evidence was incorrect. That occurred early on the Thursday afternoon of the second week of estimates, and I actually took the trouble, Senator Collins, of having the correction of the record hand-delivered to the Senate committee secretariat so that the Senate committee could be made aware of the correction as soon as possible.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the Attorney-General confirm that he did not inform the foreign minister or her office that the minister had misled the House of Representatives on Thursday, 28 May until the afternoon of Thursday, 4 June, despite the Attorney-General becoming aware that the statements were misleading on Monday, 1 June?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is simply not true, Senator Collins; I did not become aware of that. It was drawn to my attention that there were doubts about the earlier evidence, so I asked the secretary of my department to conduct an urgent inquiry. The results of that inquiry were communicated to me early in the afternoon of the following Thursday, at which time it was confirmed to me that the earlier concerns were correct and that the evidence the previous week was wrong. I immediately corrected the record and I immediately advised the foreign minister of the matter, who herself immediately corrected the record.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. How can Australians and the Senate have confidence in this Attorney-General when it takes a full parliamentary week for him to disclose the fact that misleading evidence was given on a matter of national security due to a missed tab on an Excel spreadsheet?

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a point of order on that question. That question is being looked at by two Senate committees and the information in that question is simply incorrect. There was a notification—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Macdonald.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to my committee on the Thursday, as Senator Brandis says—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You are now debating the matter, Senator.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and the evidence shows that was how it was.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. The Senate can ask questions in relation to these matters.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I have said—and I will continue to tell you, Senator, but it does not seem to be sinking in—it was confirmed to me early in the afternoon of the Thursday of the second week of estimates. I immediately corrected the record. I immediately advised the foreign minister of the fact. The foreign minister immediately advised the House of Representatives. I actually took the trouble of having the secretariat immediately told by a hand-delivered letter so as to ensure that the parliament would have the opportunity to deal with the question before it rose that week—

Senator Wong interjecting—

and, in fact, it did so, because, far from avoiding questions, Senator Wong, I actually took questions from you that afternoon, as you know.