Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What those opposite do not like to hear is the truth. There are very serious questions being asked in Australia right now by voting Australians and by the media about what really transpired on the high seas. The government can say all it likes. They may have stopped the boats. They have certainly turned boats around and they have made boats disappear. But what they do not appreciate, because they are really a government of the 1960s, is that the media has moved on. We have a 24/7 media now; we have Twitter; we have Facebook; we have all sorts of investigations going on—and you cannot hide these things. This morning, whether they liked it or not, evidence came out that the Abbott government paid captains of leaky boats to turn them around and go back to Indonesia. We will hear more and more about that. Just like their cabinet leak, that leak is now out, and more and more journalists will go after the truth.

We heard Senator Brandis use the term 'braying' in here. Well, I heard braying from Senator Brandis today. That is what we heard in this place today. The government can berate and they can ridicule and they can yell like Senator Back chose to do, but the truth will come out—and it is slowly coming out. They can refuse to answer questions; one week they will give a comment and the next week they will not. But the truth about what is happening on our high seas—despite the government trying to brand everything as an on-water matter or trying to brand everything as something that is national security—will eventually come out. We will not resile from asking the hard questions in this place. They can refuse to give answers, or they can give ridiculous, insulting 10-second answers like we heard today from Senator Brandis. But we will continue to ask them—and the truth will come out. What an embarrassing start to the day it was to have two inquiries simply because they refused to tell the truth, simply because they will not come clean in this place, simply because somehow they think they can avoid scrutiny. Well, they cannot.

On the issue of citizenship, we have heard all sorts of rumours. We know, for example, there is a real problem in the government, not just between the backbenchers and the government but between cabinet ministers. There is a real issue on the issue of citizenship. As usual, the Abbott government has jumped out there and tried to bully people and somehow lead by berating and belittling people, while others in the cabinet have said, 'Hang on, enough's enough.' So now they have a leak in their cabinet. Despite them now not wanting to talk to us about what they might be proposing in the area of citizenship, they pretend they are still consulting. That will not wash either.

Now an eminent QC has made comments in the media, and what do we see? We just see cherry-picking by Senator Brandis. Although Bret Walker himself said he has been misquoted, did that stop the flurry of Senator Brandis insulting him? No. Senator Brandis might like to read fiction and poetry at Senate estimates, but, if the man who wrote the report said, 'I didn't say that,' the fiction given in answers by Senator Brandis to questions today will not wash. The government needs to learn that you might be able to hoodwink some people some of the time but that that does not last. Bret Walker today clearly said—I heard him myself this morning on the radio—that he has been misquoted. Yet here today the man who said bigots are good somehow tried to suggest, 'No, no. Bret Walker got that wrong; this is what he said.' Cherry-picking will not wash. I am sure Bret Walker will continue to defend himself, as he should, and we in this place will continue the hard questions. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.