Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (15:30): Australia today is led by a Prime Minister who faces serious and specific allegations of misconduct, including breaches of the criminal law, and other conduct which makes her unfit for office. Senator Chris Evans: Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. Not only is that, again, Senator Brandis trying to make an improper suggestion about the Prime Minister, but there has been no accusation made. Senator Brandis interjecting— Senator Chris Evans: I did not, Senator. I paid attention to the Senate during Senate question time. Senator Brandis: And today I listened to the House of Representatives. Senator Chris Evans: Senator, I understand where your priorities are. You have made that very clear in recent years. You are in the gutter with your leader— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Evans, can you address your remarks through the chair. Senator Chris Evans: and you have done yourself a great disservice. We are not going to allow Senator Brandis to abuse the right of privilege in this parliament, and I will constantly take points of order if he does not adhere to the standing orders. He is seeking to allege corruption and conspiracy. If he has such a charge to make, he should take it to the police—not ring up his mates and try to get them to do it, but to take a complaint to the police. Making an allegation against another member is not in order, Mr Deputy President. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Evans, you are now debating the point. Senator Brandis, is this on the point of order? Senator BRANDIS: Mr Deputy President, I have two points to make on the point of order. The first is a narrow and technical point, and the second is a more substantive point. First of all, what I said was that the Prime Minister faces accusations— Senator Chris Evans: Made by you. Senator BRANDIS: And by Mr Abbott, the Leader of the Opposition. Senator Chris Evans: No, he didn't have anything when he got up today. Senator BRANDIS: Yes, he did. I listened to Mr Abbott's speech and I listened to the subsequent questions from both Mr Abbott and Ms Bishop, and I can assure you, Senator Evans, that those specific allegations were put to the Prime Minister and were not dealt with by her. So, Mr Deputy President, the narrow point is this: it cannot possibly be unparliamentary to say that a member of the lower house faces accusations of misconduct, including a breach of the criminal law, when in fact they do face those allegations. That is an objective truth. Ms Gillard does face those accusations. Whether or not she is guilty is a matter for a court of law. The broad point is this: it cannot possibly be the case that the parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia is denied the capacity to debate whether the most senior minister of the Commonwealth has committed a wrongdoing or breached the criminal law. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Brandis, thank you for your contribution. Senator Evans, on the point of order: in light of Senator Brandis's comments earlier, on which I ruled that he needed to withdraw, I was listening very carefully. I do not believe he does on this occasion. Senator Brandis was using language that I believe was satisfactory in the debate. Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr Deputy President, I rise on another point of order. Senator Evans is holier than thou in accusing others of bad manners. He accused the current speaker of getting down in the gutter, or being in the gutter. Senator Wong: And he does! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Wong! Senator Ian Macdonald: I ask you, Mr Deputy President: is the accusation by the Leader of the Government in the Senate parliamentary? It is an accusation that was just repeated by a senior so-called minister of this so-called government. Senator Wong: That is dead right! He is in the gutter and everybody knows it. Just like you; you and he both! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Thank you, Senator Macdonald. I think it would assist the debate if we move on. There has been a lot of interjecting across the chamber. Senator Brandis, you have the call. Senator BRANDIS: Mr Deputy President, when I hear government ministers, from the Prime Minister to Senator Wong and others, say the opposition is in the gutter, I am reminded of the late President Richard Nixon, who said the same thing. He used the same words about his accusers during the course of the Watergate affair. It is the defence of the scoundrel to say that the accuser is in the gutter. I remember the late Creighton Burns, one of the great giants of Australian journalism, who exposed during a previous Labor government—the government of Gough Whitlam—the foreign loans affair. He was accused of being in the gutter and accused of muckraking, and he said famously: 'If there's muck, let's rake it; that's what journalists do.' Senator Chris Evans: You're not a journalist. Senator BRANDIS: If the government or ministers of the government have engaged in misconduct or have broken the law— Senator Chris Evans interjecting— Senator Wong interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order on my right! Senator BRANDIS: If the Prime Minister or ministers of the government have engaged in misconduct or broken the law, it is at the very heart of the role of the parliament to expose that wrongdoing and to call them to account. Senator Wong: Go to the authorities if you've got something, George. Senator BRANDIS: What I have is a document called a 'Specific Power of Attorney'. And the specific power of attorney—it is the power of attorney referred to by my friend Senator Joyce—is signed, sealed and delivered by Ralph Blewitt and is witnessed by Julia Gillard over the impressed stamp— Senator Ian Macdonald: Table it! Incorporate it! Senator BRANDIS: I am happy to. It is witnessed by Julia Gillard over the impressed stamp of a solicitor holding a current practising certificate. The specific power of attorney by Mr Ralph Blewitt appoints Bruce Morton Wilson as Mr Blewitt's attorney. The power of attorney is recited to have been made on the fourth day of February 1993. I also have here an advertisement placed by a real estate agent called Thomsons for a property at 85 Kerr Street, Fitzroy. The document advertises that the auction is to take place on 13 February 1993. It is not in dispute that the auction did take place and that the property was knocked down to Mr Wilson, who purported to acquire it in the name of Mr Blewitt. Mr Blewitt at the time the power of attorney was ostensibly executed on 4 February 1993 was in Perth. Ms Gillard, who witnessed the power of attorney, lived in Melbourne. It is not impossible that on 4 February 1993 Ms Gillard was in Perth personally present with Mr Blewitt. Nor is it impossible that on 4 February 1993 Mr Blewitt was in Melbourne personally present with Ms Gillard. It is even possible that the two of them were together somewhere else. But it would be a fraud and it would be a crime—it would be the crime of creating a materially false and misleading document—if in fact that power of attorney was backdated. In the House of Representatives about an hour ago the Prime Minister was asked specifically by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Ms Bishop, 'Were you personally present when this power of attorney was executed?'—because, if the Prime Minister was not, then this document would be a forgery. And do you know what, Mr Deputy President, if the Prime Minister were personally present, there was one very simple answer that would put all suspicion at rest. She could simply have said yes. But she did not. She declined to do so. She said, 'I've witnessed thousands of powers of attorney in my career as a lawyer.' If this document were not a falsification why didn't she just say 'yes'? (Time expired)