Brandis, Sen George

Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Attorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:05): That is not correct. The counsel who appeared in the matter in the High Court on behalf of the only relevant Commonwealth party, Mr Gleeson, was, as I understand the matter, at that time acting on the instructions of the Australian Taxation Office—not on my instructions. As I was at pains to point out yesterday, at that time and subsequently I was not involved in giving instructions to Mr Gleeson on behalf of the Australian Taxation Office. The Australian Taxation Office is an independent statutory authority; when it retains counsel, counsel appears on behalf of it, not on behalf of the Attorney-General.