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

I hate to sound a discordant note to my friend Senator Stephens, but I am surprised to hear a Labor Party politician spring to that defence of the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor. When the Labor Party was in power, the Labor Party did not respond to a single report produced by the national security monitor. When the coalition came into government in September last year, we were left with a backlog of unresponded-to reports, which we are in the process of responding to. There are a suite of measures in place whereby legislation, including national security legislation, is kept under review, including by the PJCIS; the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee; and, ultimately, the Australian Law Reform Commission. (Time expired)