MARK DREYFUS MP

Today, just days after Malcolm Turnbull declared the wasteful, hurtful $300 million plebiscite on marriage equality is still the Government's policy, it has been killed off in MYEFO.

This afternoon, under questioning from Labor senators at a hearing of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, George Brandis was given the opportunity to rule out taking a diplomatic or judicial posting before the expiry of his current term in the Senate.

Malcolm Turnbull and the State Premiers must act to establish a National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse at today's COAG meeting in Canberra.

A Shorten Labor Government will support our local publishing industry, and ensure authors can keep telling the Australian stories we love so dearly, by maintaining restrictions against imports of foreign copies of books that are published in Australia.

The Turnbull Government continues to ignore calls from experts such as the Productivity Commission and leaders such as Rosie Batty to prevent domestic violence victims being cross-examined in court by their abusers.

It has been confirmed today that Senator Brandis's own office sought a briefing on the matter of the Bell Group liquidation as far back as mid-2015 - making the Attorney-Generals claims that he knew nothing of the matter until March 2016 utterly unbelievable.

Today Australians were on the brink of finally being given a basic privacy protection which they have waited three years for, but the Government has squibbed it yet again.

This afternoon the Senate voted to establish an inquiry into the Attorney-Generals gross mishandling of the Bell Group litigation in the High Court of Australia.

Labor warmly welcomes the appointment of The Hon Susan Kiefel AC as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, and the appointment of The Hon James Edelman to the High Court.

Senator Brandis's statement in the Senate today was one of the most remarkable attempts at blame-shifting this Parliament has surely ever seen.