Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Attorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:37): Senator Xenophon, I am advised that the projects-of-concern process, with its early intervention, aims to combat any major concerns through project remediation, as you acknowledged in your question. The process allows all parties to form a common plan of action and to avoid a blame culture. This is a successful process and one that the government continues to support. What the Senate should actually be concerned about is your proposed $5.8 billion cut to the defence budget. The PRESIDENT: Senator Xenophon, on a point of order. Senator Xenophon: Mr President, that is an outrageous misrepresentation. I ask him to withdraw that. I have never said that. That is simply outrageous. The PRESIDENT: That is a debating point, Senator Xenophon, and there are other junctures in the Senate program— Senator Xenophon: I ask him to withdraw it. The PRESIDENT: I am not going to direct the minister to withdraw. There is nothing for him to withdraw. Minister, you have the call. Senator Wong interjecting— The PRESIDENT: I am not directing the Attorney-General to withdraw. Point of order, Senator Wong, on the same point of order. Senator Wong: Mr President, just to clarify, I understand you are refusing to direct him or ask him to withdraw, but the minister can make a decision as to whether he takes on board the request. The PRESIDENT: Of course the minister can, but I have ruled there is no point of order. If senators think they have been misrepresented, there are other avenues for that to be sorted out. Attorney-General, you have the call. Senator BRANDIS: Senator Xenophon, since you were good enough to provide me with advanced notice of the question I actually took the trouble of obtaining a brief from the Department of Defence and the information I have given to you is information provided to me by the Department of Defence. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Xenophon, final supplementary question.