Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement in respect of business of the Senate notice of motion No. 1.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent Senator Joyce making a statement relating to notice of motion No. 1.

The motion moved by Senator Xenophon pertains to an issue that in this parliament has been one of those issues that has sullied this chamber. It is something that needs to be ventilated. We have had a senior QC from Sydney present a major report on this issue. It involves the gang rape of an Aboriginal girl at the age of 14 at the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre. I find it appalling that not only was it voted against but the Australian Greens have denied leave twice for discussions around this issue in this chamber. It is one issue when there is a cover-up; it is another issue when that cover-up is maintained and we try to run down the capacity of people to ventilate this issue. This lady is coming to Canberra and she deserves to be heard. She has a right to be heard. This lady is coming to Canberra. We knew that there was something wrong when the Queensland government tried to pay her out to keep her quiet on this issue. It is without doubt that she was raped. It was confirmed that she was raped. People acknowledged that she was raped. It is just that she never got her day in court. Because of a partial mental incapacity, the elements of justice have worked against her. I remember a previous motion in this parliament trying to get the Rofe report tabled, and that was denied. But of course we will pursue this issue. We will pursue this issue because it is right, because it is just and because it must be ventilated.

I cannot believe that Dr Bob Brown, who has stood up so many times for those who are apparently at the periphery and need the protection of this chamber, would deny leave for this issue to be dealt with and that he would then vote against it. And he denied leave not once but twice. I think it is incumbent upon us to use the power that is within the Senate for those who are at the margins, who are most exposed. It is incumbent on us to do what is right, to do what is just, to do what is proper. This issue must be dealt with. It will be dealt with. I will continue to pursue it for as long as I am here.

I commend Senator Xenophon for pursuing this issue. I commend my colleagues who are standing behind this issue. I commend people such as Senator Brandis and others who have the diligence in the legislative process and also the heart of justice to pursue this process and pursue it relentlessly until such time as we get a result, until such time as this person gets her day in court. If she cannot get her day in court then at least the Senate can provide a day so she can have her side of the story told. This person wants her story told. She wants to tell the story about what happened to her. This person wants to ventilate the issues pertaining to her, how she was held down and two people gang raped her.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Four? Four people gang raped her, and no-one is denying that this happened. But now this chamber is compounding the offence because we are denying her the capacity to have her issue ventilated. This is something that should just go through on the voices. If there is nothing to be protected then there is nothing to worry about. It is an issue about one individual's justice. It is an issue about what this chamber is supposed to represent, and it is not going to go away. We will pursue it time and time again.

There will be other votes that will come up, so my question is to the Australian Greens—and I know there are people within the Australian Greens who are troubled deeply by this, because they know inherently that what they did is wrong and must be corrected. They know inherently what the proper process is, and denying people leave to speak about it is not the proper process. It emphasises the guilt, emphasises the shame that surrounds this issue. We have dealt with this issue in Queensland. The reason people have pursued this issue since that time is that they know that in Australia this is our Watergate—only this time the people who did wrong got away with it.

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

Very disturbing is the fact, firstly, that Senator Joyce and not the mover of this motion, Senator Xenophon, is leading the attack on the Senate for—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's about you refusing to give leave. That's what it's about.

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

refusing to become a court of law. That is not and never—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's about you refusing leave to speak.

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

Deputy President, I ask for those interjections to stop. I did not interject. This is an important matter which needs serious—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, why didn't you let him speak?

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

Order on my left!

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

The Senate is not a court of law. Senator Joyce said that this matter had been dealt with in Queensland.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, it hasn't.

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

I am quoting you, Senator Joyce. That is what you told the Senate a moment ago. But what we do know is that there have been multiple inquiries in Queensland, including the justice commission—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, on a point of order. I draw your attention to the motion before the chair, which is that so much of standing orders be set aside as would prevent Senator Joyce from making a statement which Senator Brown refused him leave to make before. I ask you to draw—

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

Senator Macdonald, there is no point of order. A lot of latitude has been allowed in these debates previously, so Senator Brown is in order.

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

You are right, Deputy President. The question here is whether the Senate is a court of law. I submit that there is a very important function for the judicial system in this country, and that is to deal with issues such as this. However, notwithstanding that, as senators know, this matter has been looked into by at least three Senate committees in the past and we are now being requested to have a fourth inquiry.

I draw senators' attention to the opinion of the Clerk of the Senate that this matter has been dealt with by the Senate before. Look at the Clerk's advice. It effectively says that there comes a time when the Senate and the Senate committee system, which are under a huge workload, have to be free of matters that have been canvassed and dealt with in the courts before.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She wants to speak.

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

Now let me get to the personal matter, because Senator Joyce is intruding into my statement in a way that I did not intrude on his.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Poor Bob. Poor Bob.

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

Now Senator Macdonald is doing the same. I recognise the trauma that is involved here. I ask a simple question that is at the heart of this matter: is any individual involved being used for political purposes? Is there genuinely a need to get to the rights of an individual citizen or is there a political purpose that is being used by men in this Senate to prosecute a political outcome at the expense of an individual who has suffered grievously in Queensland? I have been referred to as Dr Brown in this situation—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. That is clearly an imputation on the motives of the people who were encouraging this to happen. I ask you to ask this person to withdraw.

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

Mr Deputy President, on the point of order: there is no imputation on any person in this place. I simply ask a very serious question which must be asked in debate here. Senator Macdonald is quite wrong again.

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

There is no point of order, Senator Macdonald.

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

You are right again, Mr Deputy President.

Opposition senators interjecting—

This unruly opposition does not want to listen to serious debate which affects the health and wellbeing of individuals here. I will not risk the wellbeing of an unknown person being brought before the Senate for purposes of privilege and for purposes that we have not had fully explained to us without me knowing that the wellbeing is going to be vouchsafed by that process. I ask the members bringing this matter before this Senate to think about this again because they have a high responsibility on their shoulder and they are not showing the ability to undertake that responsibility with the care that I would expect.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If I can address the issues raised by Senator Brown in relation to whether this is a matter being used for political purposes: the history of my involvement in this matter relates to the victim approaching my office and approaching me about her concerns that she has not had a right to be heard in relation to this. I think members know that I have spoken out and advocated for victims of abuse, for many victims over the years, both in the South Australian parliament and in the federal parliament. This is not about political purposes; this is about unfinished business. This is about some basic justice for an individual who has approached me, who has spoken to me and who has told me of the enormous hurt of not having an opportunity to speak out about what occurred to her.

She has already been the subject of a number of inquiries, and I agree with Senator Brown in relation to that. But the fact is that the person at the centre of the storm has never been given an opportunity to give evidence before a Senate committee. I understand what Senator Brown has said. If we are traversing old ground then I can see his point. But the issue here is that this inquiry is focused on issues of fundamental law about the destruction of documents and about keeping documents involving allegations of child sexual abuse for at least 30 years. It is about dealing with fundamental issues in relation to the protection of victims and having processes in place. And that involves issues of law reform. You cannot deal with those issues in the absence of hearing from this woman. The fact is that there have been inquiries in relation to this, but we have not heard from the victim. How in good conscience can we resolve this once and for all in the absence of hearing from this victim?

I had a constructive private conversation with Senator Brown earlier today and I understand Senator Brown is concerned about the welfare of individuals concerned—and I am acutely aware of that. But this woman made it clear that she wants an opportunity to speak out. She will be in Canberra in the first sitting week of the new year and she will want an opportunity to meet with Senator Brown, with the government, with Senator Joyce and with others so that they can hear from her direct.

I urge honourable members to keep an open mind to this. This should not be about political purposes; it should be about some fundamental law reforms. This woman wants to speak out and give her evidence about what happened to her and about the gag clause she was required to sign by the Queensland government in terms of the six-figure compensation sum that she received. These are issues of law reform that we ought to look at. In good conscience, I ask my colleagues to keep an open mind in relation to this.

Question negatived.