Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The contrast between the government and the opposition in the Senate was evident for everybody to see today. When you saw the level of questions and the level of excellent responses by ministers to questions, the difference was absolutely amazing. The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate asked questions that took less than one minute to respond to, because, as a former minister, Senator Wong herself knows that those questions that are raised in cabinet will not be the subject of commentary across the Senate chamber. Adding further insult to herself, Senator Wong then went on and quoted from Minister Turnbull, only to find the excellent Attorney-General turn that around against her and he, of course, concurred with Mr Turnbull's comments about the rule of law. That did not take very long—did it?—before we got to the questions asked by Senator O'Neill. The Attorney-General, of course, had no hesitation in drawing Senator O'Neill's attention to the words of her own leader, Mr Shorten when he went on to say—

Senator O'Neill interjecting—

I did not interfere when you were speaking, Senator O'Neill. Mr Deputy President, I did not interrupt when Senator O'Neill was speaking, but it is interesting that Mr Shorten made the statement that governments do not comment on security matters. Who was the authoritative—

Opposition senators interjecting—