MARK DREYFUS MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
LITTLEPROUD’S LEGAL FANTASIES CAN’T HIDE MORRISON’S RUBY PRINCESS LIES
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has now resorted to fabricating legal advice to justify Scott Morrison’s broken promise on cooperating with the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess.
Mr Morrison promised full cooperation with the NSW inquiry, but his Government then refused to allow its officials to appear, and even threatened High Court legal action to block any attempt by the Special Commission to compel Commonwealth witnesses to assist the inquiry.
Forced to explain why his Government had broken its promise, Mr Littleproud today concocted an absurd legal argument with no grounding in law or practice:
LITTEPROUD: For my understanding, this officer within my department would not be able to be afforded Commonwealth legal representation, they’d have to have their own, under sections of which the legalities of our constitution have been formed.
ABC RADIO NATIONAL, 14 AUGUST 2020
Mr Littleproud was not only incoherent in legal terms, but his assertions regarding government practice are complete nonsense.
One only has to look to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, where multiple Commonwealth officers and employees appeared as witnesses, including the Director-General of Emergency Management Australia (then part of the Attorney-General’s Department), Major-General Brian Power from the Defence Department, various CSIRO scientists, the General Manager of the Australian Building Codes Board and others.
Australians expect better, much better, than a Commonwealth Government that refuses to take responsibility for its actions, refuses to keep its word on cooperating with inquiries, and actively blocks attempts to inquire into, and learn from, the mistakes made during the COVID-19 crisis.
FRIDAY, 14 AUGUST 2020
