Senator PAYNE (New South Wales—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women) (14:19): I don't believe it is possible to directly equate cases such as these in the consular context or, in fact, in the legal context. Currently, Mr Assange's extradition case is adjourned until 4 January next year, when Her Honour will hand down her decision. I'm not going to provide a running commentary on those legal proceedings, but the Australian government continues to monitor Mr Assange's case closely, as we do for Australians in detention overseas. As I've previously advised the senator, in the context of estimates, consular officers have attended his extradition and other court— Senator Rice: A point of order with regard to relevance. My question was very simple: will the minister recognise that Mr Assange's situation is not simply a consular case? The PRESIDENT: Again I say to senators: you can't simply get up and repeat part of a question without making a point as to how the answer is not relevant to all of the question. Senator Payne was being directly relevant to the question at that point, talking about the assistance being provided, Senator Rice. Senator PAYNE: I was going to add to my answer that consular staff have had discussions with Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh authorities. They are assured that Mr Assange has access to the care that he needs. Due to privacy considerations that we extend to all consular clients, I am not able to able to disclose any further information relating to Mr Assange. The PRESIDENT: Senator Rice, a final supplementary question?