THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
MEDIA RELEASE
BRANDIS NEEDS TO COME CLEAN ON CABINET DOCUMENTS
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC has called on Senator Brandis to explain why this morning he claimed no documents had been handed over to the Government's Royal Commission, only to be contradicted by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet hours later.
"It took two days for Senator Brandis to respond to media reports that he had breached 113 years of established practice, by breaking the cabinet confidentiality of the former Labor Government," Mr Dreyfus said.
"Having finally broken his silence, we now have three different positions from the Government on the same day.
"This morning Senator Brandis denied that any documents had been handed over to his Royal Commission.
"A few hours later, under questioning in Senate Estimates, he would only confirm that documents relating to the Attorney-General's Department had not been provided.
"Now we discover that Cabinet documents were provided weeks ago to the Royal Commission by the Abbott Government, via the Attorney-General's Department.
"Under questioning in Senate Estimates a Deputy Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet revealed that the decision to hand over the documents had been made by the Prime Minister in January.
"Senator Brandis is claiming not to be aware of the actions of his own Prime Minister, and his own Department
"Every government since Federation has protected the confidentiality of cabinet deliberations.
"The Abbott Government has taken the cabinet documents of a former government and given them to their own Royal Commission without any process.
"This is about the simple principle that Cabinet confidentiality supports robust collective decision making and therefore good governance."
MONDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2014
