Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Attorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:19): Senator McKim, you are right. My instructions to the Solicitor-General were on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia. As I pointed out in what Senator Wong acknowledged to be a very lengthy and detailed statement to the chamber earlier in the day— Opposition senators interjecting— Senator BRANDIS: My initial instinct was that the Commonwealth did not need to intervene because, as I said, this was a revenue case between the ATO and the Western Australian government. Nevertheless, I did have a discussion with the Solicitor-General. I do not waive the Commonwealth privilege in relation to what may or may not have passed between us during the course of that discussion. I recall that, in his appearance before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee last month, the Solicitor-General—if my memory serves me correctly—was also at pains to say that he did not waive the Commonwealth privilege either. Suffice it to say: we had a discussion. We had a discussion about whether or not the Commonwealth of Australia should intervene because of the issue— The PRESIDENT: A point of order, Senator McKim? Senator McKim: In regards to relevance and in an attempt to assist the Attorney, the question was not in relation to an intervention or whether the Attorney believed the Commonwealth or anyone else should intervene. The question was about his instructions to the Solicitor-General as to what arguments should be run in the relevant case. It was not around intervention; it was around what arguments should be run, which is a different question. Senator BRANDIS: Well, Senator McKim, I cannot, nor could the former Solicitor-General, disclose that conversation between us. I cannot, Senator McKim, as you will know, without waiving the Commonwealth's privilege in the confidentiality of its legal advice. You know that—you have been a minister in a government. I am not at liberty to do that and I do not. But, Senator McKim, if you care to examine the Commonwealth's submissions that were settled by Mr Gleeson, they deal with the very issue, which he persuaded me we ought to intervene on, namely the Corporations Act issue. The PRESIDENT: Senator McKim, a supplementary question.