Senator BILYK (Tasmania) (15:20): I too rise to take part in the debate on the motion to take note of answers by Senator Bob Carr to questions from Senator Abetz. I do not know Senator Sinodinos all that well—we do not serve on any committees together—but I have come to the conclusion that he is quite a polite gentlemen. He often says hello to us in the corridors and he is generally very polite, and so I was very disappointed that he had failed to declare an interest on a number of board— Senator Brandis: Directorships? Senator BILYK: directorships—thank you so much. I think it was about six all up. That is of great concern to me because when we first come to the Senate we are all told how important it is to declare all of our interests. Everybody else manages to do that, but Senator Sinodinos, who is obviously smart—I understand he was handpicked to work for Mr Howard—could not get it right and declare these interests. I wonder whether that was an oversight because he might have been embarrassed that he too has been linked to Mr Obeid. For the opposition to come in here and try to make a mountain out of a molehill and put it back on Senator Carr personally is absolutely disgraceful. Senator Carr is highly commended on the international stage as the foreign affairs minister. He is highly commended— Senator Brandis interjecting— Senator BILYK: Are you standing to interject or just walking around? I know you jump up and down all through question time. It took 25 minutes, I noted, to discuss this issue in question time today. One would have to wonder if those on the other side have got no questions to do with policy. We know that that is probably part of why they ran this issue today. I want to mention something that happened when Mr Howard was Prime Minister and when one of the other senators failed to disclose his shareholdings in various businesses. That, of course, was none other than former senator Santo Santoro. Senator Santoro was sacked by Mr Howard when Mr Howard was Prime Minister for failing to disclose his shareholdings in various businesses. Senator Fifield: Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I know it is against standing orders to reflect on serving senators. It must be perilously close to being against standing orders to reflect on a former senator. For the record, Senator Santoro resigned. He was not dismissed, he was not sacked. He chose to leave the front bench in the parliament. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: It is a debating point, Senator Fifield. There is no point of order. Senator Bilyk, you have the call. Senator BILYK: Whether he resigned or whether he was sacked—I understood he was sacked, and if I am wrong I am happy to retract that—the issue was it all happened because he failed to declare on his register of interests that he had shareholdings in various businesses. I will quote what Mr Howard had to say at that time, and the reason I am doing this is that I am wondering why Mr Abbott has not taken up the issue with Senator Sinodinos about this. Mr Howard said at the time: This is a clear breach of the Senate rules and of his obligation to me— that being Mr Howard. He went on: He had no alternative but to resign. So I take it back, Senator, and I apologise—he did resign. He was going to be sacked so he jumped first, obviously. The quote went on: I am frankly angry and disappointed at the Senator's conduct. This is still former Prime Minister— Senator Brandis: I raise a point of order, Mr Deputy President. I do not rise on this point of order merely for the sake of defending my very dear friend Santo Santoro—though I am proud that he is and always has been a very dear friend of mine. The purpose of the point of order is to point out that this is not relevant. I took a point of order earlier on when Senator Crossin was making her contribution and she reflected on Senator Sinodinos. You ruled against me because you said—as I understood you—that Senator Carr in his answer had referred to Senator Sinodinos and therefore that was relevant to the debate. But there was no reference, not remotely, to former Senator Santoro—or, as I should describe him now, Commendatore Santoro—and therefore I would ask you to rule that this contribution by Senator Bilyk is irrelevant. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Brandis. Senator Carol Brown: Mr Deputy President, on the point of order: you have ruled many times that these debates are very broad ranging and there is latitude given, but in Senator Bilyk's contribution she has been far more relevant than Senator Fifield was when he was giving us his CV about who he worked for and the fact that he is very close to New South Wales. We have heard it all before and we do not need to be told for the first one minute of his contribution in taking note of answers. I again ask you to uphold your previous ruling that it is a very broad ranging debate that we have in taking note of answers and that Senator Brandis's point of order is not a point of order. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Senator Brown. I was going to rule that there is no point of order, but I take note of Senator Brandis's remarks—as I did when it was raised against Senator Fifield—and I remind Senator Bilyk, as I did Senator Fifield, of the nature of the topic that we are debating. You had started to stray off topic for a short while, Senator Bilyk, so I just remind you what the topic is. Senator BILYK: The question was brought up by those on the other side and there was some debate about why they would try to do that to themselves. There is concern, I know, about whose seat Senator Sinodinos might take to get him to the front bench—whether it is when you are in government or in opposition. I know that most people on the other side will do whatever they can to smear and belittle people on this side of the chamber, as they tried to do with Senator Carr, who, as I said, is most highly respected in international area. He has managed to do so much for Australia in the relatively short time he has been the foreign minister. He has secured a seat for Australia as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2013-14. He has announced a road map for reducing sanctions against Zimbabwe. He has developed and finalised a charter for the Commonwealth. Those are just three things out of a number of things that Senator Carr has been able to do in the time he has been in that position. Those on the other side will do anything to throw mud at this side. They know that one on their side did the wrong thing— (Time expired).