Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Arts and Attorney-General) (14:10): I thank Senator Kroger for the question. I imagine that the honourable senator has in mind the very surprising remarks of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Shorten, on Sunday that there ought to be a police task force into trade union corruption but that there should not be a royal commission. Those remarks were very surprising for a number of reasons—first of all, because, on the very day that the News Limited papers foreshadowed that an announcement might be made the following day, all of a sudden, for the first time, Mr Shorten discovered that there might be a problem with trade union corruption! Senator Johnston: Oops! Senator BRANDIS: Oops! So he decided he might try and get in first and say, 'Let us have a police task force, not a royal commission.' Of course, Senator Kroger, as you would know, a royal commission is the very best mechanism for shining the light on widespread, systemic and ingrained illegality across a range of institutions. The police— Senator Cameron: Give us some more adjectives! Senator Jacinta Collins: I wonder if he's got his bookshelves yet? The PRESIDENT: Order! On my left! Senator Brandis is entitled to be heard in silence. Government senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! On my right! Senator BRANDIS: The police might, of course, investigate individual cases, but a royal commission is established for the very purpose of investigating a culture of corruption. It is not, by the way, an either/or— Senator Mason: Like the Petrov royal commission! Senator BRANDIS: Like the Petrov royal commission, I hear Senator Mason say! Of course, it is not an either/or proposition because royal commissions have worked with police task forces and had police investigative agents seconded to them, like the royal commission into institutional child abuse and like the Fitzgerald commission in Queensland, that you will remember from many years ago, Mr President, and, as Senator Mason says, like the Petrov royal commission half a century ago. So this is the way to attack the problem, and for Mr Shorten— (Time expired)