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

Senator Wright, I think you ought to contextualise your history. The idea of having an INSLM was an idea that came from the coalition. It came from the coalition in the first year of the Rudd government, and it was initially opposed though subsequently adopted by the Labor government of the day. It was in fact moved in this chamber over opposition from the Labor government of the day by former Senator Troeth and me.

It is true, as you also say, that in the budget process the government gave consideration to abolishing that position for economy reasons, but, on reflection and conscious that we were going to introduce very significant new laws in relation to national security, we considered that it was a good decision to retain the position. That is what we have done. So, a position first recommended by the coalition has been kept as a result of a decision by the coalition.