Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was actually hoping I could cede my time to Senator Back to keep him going, but unfortunately I am not sure I can! To take the heat out of the issue a little bit, I want to talk about some of the substance of what we are actually here to discuss—taking note of the answers from Senator Brandis to the questions that were asked of him. I think the real concern here is that fundamentally it comes down to how we as a Senate want to tackle this question of transparency and information. What are the opportunities and what role should this Senate be playing? I think it is unfortunate that some of the opportunities to answer the true questions that are being asked and which were asked today for Senator Brandis to respond to are being missed. The issue of transparency and information and getting to the bottom of what has happened—