THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
BISHOP MISLEADS PARLIAMENT ABOUT MONIS LETTER
Prime Minister Tony Abbott must explain why a letter from Man Haron Monis sent to George Brandis only nine weeks before the Sydney Lindt Cafe siege was withheld from the inquiry into the tragedy.
Today, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop waited to the end of Question Time to reveal she misled parliament about why no action had been taken by Brandis when he received the letter from Monis asking for advice on contacting the Caliph Ibrahim, the leader of the Islamic State.
On 28 May 2015, Ms Bishop told Question Time that the letter from Monis was provided to a review by secretary of the Prime Minister's department Michael Thawley and the secretary of the NSW Premiers department Blair Comley.
She said: The matters to which the member for Isaacs refers were all dealt with by the siege review. There was no criticism of the way the letter was handled within the Attorney-General's department or the reply.
Senator Brandis also repeated this claim in a press release on 28 May 2015:
The letter, and my Departments reply, were both placed before the Inquiry into the Martin Place siege conducted by the Secretaries of the Prime Ministers and NSW Premiers Departments. Their report did not have any criticism of the way with which the Monis letter was dealt.
Brandis Statement 28 May 2015
However, Ms Bishop today has admitted that this letter was not referred to the Thawley/Comley inquiry more than a week after she first claimed it was.
George Brandis has sat in Senate Estimates all week in the full knowledge that his statement was wrong.
This letter was significant as it was sent only weeks after the national threat level was raised to its highest level ever and was only two months before the Lindt Cafe siege.
When was the Prime Minister first aware the Attorney-General did not provide the letter from Monis to the inquiry?
When was the Foreign Minister first aware?
Mr Abbott should answer why his letter was not provided to the head of his department and it then took a week for the Government to admit it had misled parliament, Mr Dreyfus said.
Labor is entitled to ask legitimate questions about whether internal Government processes for dealing with such red flag warnings are now in place given the current high security alert. So far, the Coalition has provided no adequate explanation about why this letter was not referred to law enforcement agencies.
To make matters worse it misled the Australian people about this matter of national security.
THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2015
