Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

You are right, Deputy President. The question here is whether the Senate is a court of law. I submit that there is a very important function for the judicial system in this country, and that is to deal with issues such as this. However, notwithstanding that, as senators know, this matter has been looked into by at least three Senate committees in the past and we are now being requested to have a fourth inquiry.

I draw senators' attention to the opinion of the Clerk of the Senate that this matter has been dealt with by the Senate before. Look at the Clerk's advice. It effectively says that there comes a time when the Senate and the Senate committee system, which are under a huge workload, have to be free of matters that have been canvassed and dealt with in the courts before.