Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Arts and Attorney-General) (14:38): It is certainly true to say that I have a great deal of respect for Mr Irvine, the former Director-General of Security. Until his retirement last September, I worked with him very closely on almost a daily basis in relation to a range of national security matters, and I have had many, many, many conversations over the years with Mr Irvine about the issue of metadata. In fact, it was in the last parliament that I think it would be fair to say that Mr Irvine was the principal advocate, before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, for the establishment of a metadata retention regime. When this bill passes the Senate next week, as I expect it will— Senator Xenophon interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Xenophon: Mr President, I raise a point of order. It is one of relevance, with 15 seconds remaining. My question is about concerns expressed by Mr Irvine about Australian metadata being stored overseas. The PRESIDENT: Attorney-General, I remind you that you have 15 seconds left. Senator BRANDIS: That was prologue, Senator Xenophon. In fact, there has been a lot of misunderstanding about what Mr Irvine said. Mr Irvine does not believe in a prohibition on offshoring and the views that have been attributed to him to suggest that he does are wrong.