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

On 27 May—the Thursday of the first estimates week—the deputy secretary of the Attorney-General's Department, Ms Katherine Jones, gave evidence to Senate estimates that a letter from Monis to me, and the response of the Attorney-General's Department, was provided to and considered by the Sydney siege review. That evidence was incorrect, and Ms Jones wrote to the legal and constitutional affairs committee to correct the record on the afternoon of 4 June, that is, the following Thursday afternoon. I was first advised that the evidence given by Ms Jones on 27 May was wrong on the afternoon of Monday 1 June. I immediately asked the secretary of my department, Mr Moraitis, to conduct an urgent review to establish the facts. Mr Moraitis reported to me early in the afternoon of Thursday 4 June, and confirmed that it was indeed the case that Ms Jones's evidence was wrong. I immediately advised the foreign minister of that, and both she and I immediately corrected the record.