Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Attorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:50): Senator Chisholm, that question is so stupid, even by your very low standards. Senator O'Sullivan lives in Toowoomba. If you had ever been to Toowoomba in your entire life, it is no doubt you would have— The PRESIDENT: Point of order, Senator Wong. Senator Wong: Direct relevance—the question is this: is it appropriate for the chair of a committee to interject and offer comment on a project in which they have a commercial interest? The PRESIDENT: On the point of order, Senator O'Sullivan? Senator O'Sullivan: Mr President, I seek leave to make a personal statement now. The PRESIDENT: Is leave granted? Senator Wong: We will give him leave after question time. Leave not granted. Senator O'Sullivan: I seek leave now to table a transcript of the speech I'm going to give and the accompanying evidentiary document that will put this to bed. The PRESIDENT: Is leave granted? Senator Wong: Mr President, I haven't seen the documents. Honourable senators interjecting— Senator Wong: If he provides them, we'll consider it, and he may well get leave when he stands up after question time. Leave not granted. The PRESIDENT: Senator O'Sullivan, leave has not been granted. Is this a further point of order? Senator O'Sullivan: Yes, it is; in response. At four minutes past 12 today, nearly three hours ago, the Chief Government Whip formally went to the opposition to hand them the document, and they rejected them. The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order. Honourable senators interjecting— Senator O'Sullivan: They've seen the documents. The PRESIDENT: On the point of order, Senator Brandis? Senator Wong interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, I give you a lot of latitude about points of order, and I'll give the same courtesy to the Leader of the Government. Senator Wong: What's the point of order? The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, you get a lot of latitude on points of order, and I'm extending the same courtesy to the other leader. Senator BRANDIS: Thank you very much, Mr President. Senator O'Sullivan has taken a point of order on which you are yet to rule. I wish to speak to that point of order. What has been disclosed to the Senate by Senator O'Sullivan is that, although Senator Wong asserted a few moments ago that the opposition had not had the opportunity to consider the documents which will show that there is absolutely no substance in allegations against Senator O'Sullivan, it is now apparent that these documents were offered to the opposition for inspection by them some three hours ago. The Leader of the Opposition should apologise to the Senate for seriously misleading the chamber. The PRESIDENT: Senator Cameron, do you wish to contribute? Senator Cameron: Yes, on the point of order. I happened to be on frontbench duty when the documents were handed to me—a bunch of documents without— Honourable senators interjecting— Senator Cameron: Senator O'Sullivan was seeking to immediately table the documents and speak on them. I had not seen the documents; I had not had time to look at the documents. Then, after consideration, I said the documents could be tabled and we would give Senator O'Sullivan an opportunity to speak. That was not accepted. The PRESIDENT: Order! Let me now bring this back to where we stand. Senator Di Natale, on a point of order? Senator Di Natale: I know this might come as a shock to Senator O'Sullivan, but there are more than two parties in this chamber. I know it's a shock! The members of the crossbench and the Greens haven't seen this documentation. It wasn't offered to the Greens. So we won't be allowing you the opportunity to table those documents now. Should you wish to do it after question time, we will consider that. The PRESIDENT: I'm not going to take any further points of order in relation to this matter. I am going to rule exactly where we are now, and that is that leave has been denied. We will continue with question time. Senator Wong interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Is leave now being granted? Senator Wong: Leave is granted. Table them now and, as I said, we will give you leave after question time to make a personal explanation. The PRESIDENT: You're directing your comments to me, Senator Wong. Leave has been sought. The Labor Party is not objecting to leave. Senator Di Natale, are you objecting to leave being granted? Senator Di Natale interjecting— The PRESIDENT: I need your position. I'm going to put the question. Leave has been sought. Is leave granted? Senator Di Natale: No, leave is not granted. The PRESIDENT: Leave is not granted. We will now proceed with question time. Senator BRANDIS: Going back to Senator Chisholm's question, Senator Chisholm suggests that there is something inappropriate about a senator who lives in Toowoomba, whose electorate office is in Toowoomba, making on observation during the hearings of a Senate committee about the progress— Senator Wong interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong! Is there a point of order, Senator Williams? Senator Williams: Mr President, I ask you to ask Senator Wong to be quiet while we listen to the answer instead of screaming across the chamber at Senator O'Sullivan, please. The PRESIDENT: I remind all senators not to interject while other senators are speaking. Senator BRANDIS: Again, this is the absurdity of Senator Chisholm's question: he suggests that Senator O'Sullivan, who lives in Toowoomba, whose electorate office is in Toowoomba, has done something inappropriate by making a remark during the course of the hearings of a Senate committee about the progression of the largest capital works project in the history of Toowoomba. According to Senator Chisholm, by his own benighted lights, there is something unusual or inappropriate about that. The fact is that this government is extremely proud to have funded the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. We are very proud of the fact that, going back to the days when Mr Ian Macfarlane was the member for Groom, Mr Ian Macfarlane and many other coalition members and senators from Queensland have urged the government to fund the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. We are very proud of the fact that we are the government who are delivering on the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. If Senator Chisholm had the slightest interest in or knowledge about the interests of the people of Toowoomba, which obviously he doesn't, rather than take cheap political points, he'd be applauding it. The PRESIDENT: Senator Chisholm, a supplementary question.