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

It will not be too late, Senator Milne, so you are wrong about that as well. In fact, I cannot think of a single thing you have said in your extraordinary contribution which was factually accurate. Let me summarise the coalition’s position. We believe firmly that the Tasmanian registry of the Federal Court should not be closed and that the registrar’s responsibilities should not be taken over by the Victorian registrar of the court. We are prepared to move to amend the appropriate legislation—that is, the Access to Justice (Civil Litigation Reforms) Amendment Bill 2009—to ensure that that position has statutory sanction. We look for your support, Senator Milne, and the support of the crossbenchers when we do that. We accept the assurance of the Attorney-General through his officers that that legislation, currently listed as soon as tomorrow on the Senate Notice Paper, will be dealt with very shortly. As I said before, it will have to be removed from the non-controversial area of the Notice Paper, but it will be placed back on the Notice Paper certainly not later than the next sitting week of the parliament. Contrary to your assertion, that will not be too late to effect a statutory reversal of that decision. The coalition is not prepared to delay the legislation currently before the chamber, which invests the Federal Court with criminal jurisdiction to deal with serious cartel offences, in order to achieve that outcome; nor is it necessary to do so. That is the coalition’s position. I thank the Attorney-General for his assurance, which we accept. We will move the appropriate amendment to the appropriate bill when it comes before the chamber shortly.