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

I want to acknowledge the support of the Australian Labor Party and the opposition in relation to Australia's counterterrorism measures. Each of the measures that we have introduced into the parliament in the last three years has had the constructive support of the opposition, and I acknowledge that. But national security, of course, is a broader canvas than counterterrorism alone. I am sorry to say that on other aspects of national security policy the opposition has in recent times declined to maintain a spirit of bipartisanship. We saw that with the caucus's decision some three weeks ago not to support Minister Dutton's strong new measures to keep Australia's borders safe and secure. We saw it as recently as last week in Senator Wong's decision to call into question the American alliance.