Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was thinking this aloud, Senator Brandis—misled the parliament but also damaged the reputation of the independence of the office of the Solicitor-General can be added to the long list of transgressions unfortunately perpetrated by the Attorney-General. Let us go over a few of them, shall we? Senator Brandis claimed to have consulted—and this came out yesterday in question time—the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mr Mick Gooda, before establishing the Don Dale royal commission, when no such consultation occurred. Senator Brandis gave incorrect information to parliament about the letter to him from Lindt cafe gunman Man Haron Monis and, when made aware of this fact, delayed correcting the record for no less than three days. Senator Brandis failed to defend another independent statutory office holder, the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, from political attacks and, unfortunately, bullying. The Attorney-General subsequently offered an inducement to the President of the Human Rights Commission to quit her position after the commission issued a report—