Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 515 standing in my name.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate, noting the prominence that the new Australian Security Intelligence Organisation headquarters building near Lake Burley Griffin will have on Canberra’s cityscape and that there was no reference of this proposal to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, requests the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works to provide the Senate with the recommendation from the former Attorney-General, the Honourable Philip Ruddock, that the committee seek an exemption from the Governor-General from scrutiny of this project, with any identifying particulars removed.

Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a member of the Public Works Committee, I seek leave to make a short statement on the motion.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pity that Senator Bob Brown had not sought further information about the procedures of the Public Works Committee. It has always been the case, under any government, that normally, by general agreement, the buildings and operations of ASIO and ASIS, some of the AFP work and some other functions of the Attorney-General’s Department have not been subject to scrutiny or have been exempt from scrutiny because of the very nature of their work. Therefore we do not have very detailed briefings on that nor do we have site inspections because they are normally granted exemption. So for Senator Brown to be putting up this motion is quite ill advised, in my view, and the amendment that he has made is even more ill advised, because it is my understanding that the contents of this letter, which is a confidential letter, have been published in the Canberra Times with the identifying particulars removed in any case. So for Senator Brown to bring this before the Senate is very ill advised and quite ignorant of the procedures of the Public Works Committee.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Obviously, what Senator Troeth wants to do is institute ignorance in the Senate. This is a request for information.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I ask that Senator Brown withdraw that remark about Senator Troeth.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brown, you may continue your remarks. There is no point of order.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course there is not, and that was another example of a failure to understand how this place works. This is a Senate chamber in the Australian democracy and its job is to get information and to make decisions based on that information. Here we have an ASIO headquarters building with the secret service upfront wanting to grandstand on Lake Burley Griffin with its building as a monument—to the spying agency in Australia, which we need and agree to. But it is seeking a different form of review—that is, no review—of its place within the Parliamentary Triangle. It is our job, and there has been a furore about this in the ACT, to get information and make sure we are acquainted with this building and how it fits in with the architecture of this great city. What Senator Troeth and presumably other colleagues are saying is, ‘No, ASIO is exempted from the purview and the scrutiny of the Senate.’ That is a fundamental failure to understand the role of democracy. We are in charge here, not the secret service agents, and if they want to put a building at the forefront of this city it should be under the scrutiny of this parliament and this Senate. It is an abrogation of duty for the opposition or the government to say otherwise.

Question agreed to.