Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President, for your advice, but I do understand that Mr Day, as a member of the public, does have the ability to challenge anything that I or anybody else says. So I think that is possible. I will move on, but I certainly stand by my comments that there are many more aspects to this issue than what will be dealt with by the High Court. The referral itself, which is what I have been dealing with, puts a spotlight on these other matters that a responsible Senate would deal with. As we know, the evidence suggests that Mr Day was aware of the possible breach prior to his election. We also know that concerns around section 44 were on the government's radar. It appears that the government ignored the advice of the Department of Finance in approving the questionable leasing arrangement. A relevant question is: how much did the government know before the 2016 election? We are still not clear on this despite speeches from more than one minister today. We are starting to feel that the fog is descending, rather than the clouds lifting, on this one.

On top of all this—and I am sure the President will not be happy about this—I will just make brief mention of the issue of the training grant. My colleague Sarah Hanson-Young has made reference to it. There is also a cloud over the interaction between the government and Mr Day on this issue.

At the moment, as I said, the Greens are pleased to support this. I think there have been very important contributions on the need for a national ICAC and political donations reform. And if this Senate is doing its job, we need to return to many other aspects of how the government interacted on this.

Question agreed to.