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

I am jealous, Senator Cameron. I wish the same could be said of me, but it is not able to be!

Senator Dastyari, I did not see Ms Credlin's comments, but I will take at face value what you say. First of all, on no occasion—not 16 occasions, not one occasion—did Prime Minister Abbott or Prime Minister Turnbull say that the question of reform of section 18C would never be revisited. That was never ever said. They said, at various times, that the issue had been taken off the table. I remember Mr Abbott saying that—and that was the case. I remember Mr Turnbull saying during the election campaign last year that it was not a big priority for the government—and that was the case too. Nevertheless, the suggestion that there was ever a commitment that the matter would never be revisited is false.

In relation to Mr Turnbull, I know what his views on this matter are, and they have never changed. The fact is that Mr Turnbull has an admirable and lifelong commitment to the protection of freedom of speech. It was Mr Turnbull who as a young man acted for the British former intelligence officer Peter Wright in successfully taking proceedings against the United Kingdom government, which was seeking to prevent the publication by Mr Peter Wright—