Senator CAROL BROWN (Tasmania) (15:16): Thank you, Madam Deputy President— Honourable senators interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I remind senators that Senator Brown has the right to be heard in silence. Please respect her few minutes. Senator CAROL BROWN: I, too, rise to take note of the answers from Senator Scullion in response to the questions from Senators Wong, Conroy and Cameron. Senator Paterson is right when he talks about the royal commission being welcomed. This side of politics also welcomed the royal commission when it was announced by the Prime Minister, because it was shocking footage that we saw aired on the ABC's Four Cornersprogram. Anyone who viewed would not soon forget it. But what we heard here in the answers from Senator Scullion was actually more questions that need to be asked, and they have to be answered. Senator Scullion in his responses did not answer the questions that were put to him—and they were very serious questions, regardless of what Senator Paterson said in his contribution to try to paint this as some sort of partisan quest by the Labor Party. That is not the case. This is a very, very serious issue. It goes to what the minister knew about what was happening at Don Dale. It is a very, very serious issue. In the minister's answers, he first sought to blame the ABC for the reason why he could not view the episode. He then sought to blame his department for the reason why he was not fully briefed about the issues— Senator Ian Macdonald: He did not. Senator Brandis: No, he didn't. Senator CAROL BROWN: Yes, he did. The departmental processes were what he talked about—about being given full briefings. What we have learnt through the media—even though we have heard Minister Scullion today make some changes to the story—is that when Mr Turnbull announced the royal commission he said: This needs a thorough inquiry. We need to move quickly on that, get to the bottom it, and expose what occurred and expose the culture that allowed it to occur and allowed it to remain unrevealed for so long. The first thing he really needs to do is talk to his own minister, because it is becoming quite apparent that Minister Scullion was aware of what was going on prior to the ABC Four Corners report. We have had, since then, a number of different reports that have alleged that Senator Scullion made these comments. These reports are completely at odds with what Senator Scullion said today. Senator Scullion, according to a media report: … said he "didn't know anything about" the allegations prior to last week's episode, last night admitted asking his department for advice about the Don Dale centre in October last year after reading a media report of findings by the NT Children's Commissioner. That is what he said. That is what has been reported: that he had asked for a brief in October last year and he did nothing about it. It appears that he did nothing about it. Senator Brandis: You are not doing a very good job of not politicising this. Senator CAROL BROWN: Thank you, Senator Brandis, for your help, because you should be one of the people saying to Minister Scullion, 'Why didn't you do anything about it? You knew about it. You asked for a brief. And you just ignored it.' That is exactly what we have seen from Senator Scullion. Nothing. He has just ignored it. We also heard Senator Scullion's response today when he was asked about Professor Calma's comments about Senator Scullion. Let's just hear exactly what Professor Calma, the former social justice commissioner, had to say. He basically said that Senator Scullion is not listening and he needs to consider his own position. (Time expired)