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

Thank you very much to Senator Ludlam for that question. I note that Senator Ludlam has today published on the Guardian website an article in praise of the American traitor Edward Snowden, displaying a photograph of a bus bearing the signage 'Thank you, Edward Snowden' and under the headline 'Today is the day we fight back'. Senator Ludlam, you celebrate and make a hero of this man who, through his criminal dishonesty and his treachery to his country, has put lives, including Australian lives, at risk. I wonder how you can sit in this parliament and hold your head up high when you celebrate a man who, through criminal conduct and treachery, has put Australian lives at risk.

You should know, because you are your party's spokesman on this area, that the Australian intelligence agencies operate under a strong framework of surveillance and under very strong statutory obligations and accountability obligations. That framework includes being responsible to a parliamentary committee of which you yourself are a member—that is, the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade—and the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. They are also responsible to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security; they are responsible to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, an independent statutory officer; and they are, as I said a moment ago, under a framework of— (Time expired)