Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Attorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:18): Senator Di Natale, I entirely agree with the description of Peter Dutton, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, as thoughtful and compassionate. I entirely agree, having known Peter Dutton as I have for some 17 years. A more thoughtful and compassionate minister you will not find on either side of this chamber. And the evidence of the thoughtfulness and compassion of Peter Dutton is to be seen in particular in the fact—through you, Mr President—Senator Di Natale, that because of Peter Dutton there are no children in detention any longer, whereas when the coalition came into office some three years and two months ago there were almost 2,000. Because of Peter Dutton and the policies that he is superintending— The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Di Natale, a point of order? Senator Di Natale: Yes, a point of order on relevance. I asked specifically: how is it thoughtful or compassionate to describe generations of hardworking Lebanese immigrants as a 'mistake'? The PRESIDENT: That was the second part of your question. The first part was: 'Does the minister believe that Minister Dutton was thoughtful and compassionate?' And the minister directly answered that question. Senator BRANDIS: So, I do think that it is compassionate and thoughtful to superintend a policy which has saved hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives at sea, because, as we know, under the previous government's immigration policy at least 1,200 people—men, women, children and infants—drowned in the ocean, drowned at sea. And those are only the ones we know about; there are numberless others that we will never know of who drowned at sea. Because of policies implemented by Mr Scott Morrison and Mr Peter Dutton— The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Di Natale, a point of order? Senator Di Natale: Yes, on relevance. The minister has spent the entire duration of his answer ignoring the second part of my question: how is it thoughtful or compassionate to describe generations of hardworking Lebanese immigrants as a 'mistake'? The PRESIDENT: As is the practice with all ministers when answering questions, provided that they are relevant to a portion or all of the question—and in this case the minister is relevant to a portion of the question—I cannot direct the minister as to which part of your question he addresses. The minister is relevant. Senator BRANDIS: So, I think it is compassionate to have saved all of those lives. I think it is compassionate that Mr Dutton has most recently negotiated an agreement with the United States of America so that people who were placed in offshore detention by the previous government can be resettled in the United States of America. I think that is thoughtful and compassionate too. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Di Natale, a supplementary question?