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

What an extraordinary question! It wasn't Ms Bishop's chief of staff who rang up a member of the New Zealand parliament and put him up to asking a question in the New Zealand parliament to try to influence Australian domestic politics. It wasn't Ms Bishop's chief of staff, Senator Wong; it was your chief of staff. You know that he did the wrong thing, because you said in your doorstop this morning that your chief of staff should not have done that and that you have spoken to him. So there's even been a grudging admission from you that your chief of staff did the wrong thing and that your office did the wrong thing. We have both the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the New Zealand opposition leader saying it was the wrong thing, and you now come into this chamber and seek to defend it. How ridiculous you are! (Time expired)