Senator EDWARDS (South Australia) (15:17): I rise also to take note of answers and, particularly, the opposition's assertions about the scrutiny of the acting leader here. This is a very serious issue—the Lindt cafe siege and the security of this country are things that no Attorney-General would ever intend to stint on. I am sure it was not the former Attorney-General's intention to do that either, but it is interesting that Mr Dreyfus, the former Attorney-General of this country, was asleep at the wheel, if you could put it that way, on a national security issue. His record on the protection of our borders is nothing short of incompetent. He has tried to score a cheap political point out of a national tragedy and he ignores the fact that the matter was dealt with in exactly the same way that it would have been under him as the previous Attorney-General. The letter was handled in accordance with long-established Attorney-General's Department procedures. Those procedures did not identify anything untoward in the letter. Those senators opposite—as do I and my staff—open mail every day in this place and at electorate offices. You attract the very highest level of intellect and capacity in the representations made to you, but you also receive some fairly crazy stuff. Mr Dreyfus also avoids the fact that the letters from Monis were sent to him as well as to other Labor ministers, including then Prime Minister Gillard and then Attorney-General McClelland. That is all missing from this debate, isn't it? Senator Conroy interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator EDWARDS: This is about taking a national tragedy and using it for cheap political points. The director-general of ASIO, a person of impeccable credentials, has examined the letter and advised that it had been dealt with in an appropriate way— Senator Conroy: Can't blame the security services! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator EDWARDS: by being referred to the Attorney-General's Department. Despite all the demonstrations and shrillness from over there, we have an opposition who are, indeed, somewhat missing. Senator Conroy: You can't hide behind the security services. Senator EDWARDS: This is about national security. I note Senator Conroy chipping in; at the time, he was the Minister for Defence. Senator Conroy: No, I wasn't. Senator EDWARDS: He is now the shadow minister for defence. He sat in the cabinet room while the previous government, the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, failed to do anything about developing a submarine shipbuilding contract—for six years. Not only did they fail to do that for six years; they took $16.8 billion from the Defence budget. This government will always do the right thing by the Australian people and will act within the law. When it comes to Operation Sovereign Borders, we will operate within the confines of the security of those operations. Before I finish, I put on the record that, on 25 July 2012, the former Prime Minister Mr Kevin Rudd said: The robust principle of all prime ministers and foreign ministers, past and present, is that we don't comment on intelligence matters. Furthermore, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bob Carr, said on Sky News on 28 May 2013: I won't comment on matters of intelligence and security for the obvious reason—we don't want to share with the world and potential aggressors what we know about what they might be doing and how they might be doing it. I suggest that they get on with some more serious policy matters on the other side and stop getting in the way of a government that is doing a very good job.