Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission. I was not going to speak on this matter, but I totally disagree with Senator Bishop’s comments. We had a bipartisan report, and it was a good report. We conducted hearings around this country and we heard a lot of in camera evidence—evidence of a private nature, which Senator Bishop referred to. He says we have only matters which are on the public record, but he has completely ignored the in camera evidence, which was very valuable and of a very private nature. Some of the police commissioners, in particular, were very forthcoming with information during the in camera sessions, so I do not agree with Senator Bishop. I wish we had had that discussion in the committee, because it is the first I have heard of this. I thought we had a very congenial and bipartisan approach which established a good inquiry, and the inquiry established some good key findings and recommendations. Senator Bishop’s remarks are remarkable in the sense that I did not detect any of that during the inquiry.

Question agreed to.