Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister regret spending $1 million of taxpayers' money to support Clive Palmer's court case to force open Western Australia's borders in 2020?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ISON (—) (): One of the things learnt during the course of the pandemic, a once-in-100-years pandemic, is that conventions that would normally apply in certain circumstances in the routine operations of government, through the course of the pandemic, have had to be rethought and challenged. It is the normal course of events, it is the normal convention, that when cases of that subject matter are heard it is the normal course for the Commonwealth government to provide what we did on that occasion.

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs will leave under 94(a).

The member for Isaacs then left the chamber.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And so, Mr Speaker, that is what the Attorney-General at the time did—and did so with the support of the government. After further discussions with the Western Australian Premier, I took the decision for us to withdraw from the case. It was our view that the normal convention that applied outside of a pandemic, and the situation of the pandemic, led us to make that decision and we withdrew that decision. And I'm pleased with the result that was finally arrived at by the court.