George Brandis slammed by Senate inquiry into Bell Group conduct

Posted

Attorney-General George Brandis has been labelled "evasive" and accused of trying to curtail the independence of the solicitor-general by a Labor- and Greens-controlled Senate inquiry.

But Government senators argue the entire inquiry into Senator Brandis' conduct in the most complex commercial litigation in Australian history amounts to a personal attack.

A Senate inquiry was investigating the extent of the Attorney-General's involvement in the bid to claw back close to $1 billion from the late Alan Bond's failed Bell Group of companies.

It followed allegations a secret deal was struck between the Commonwealth and the West Australian Government to allow the state's claim to take precedence in the carve-up of company assets.

Senator Brandis has repeatedly denied the claims, and sought to distance himself from any dealings in the matter.

The committee, chaired by Labor senator Louise Pratt, tabled its final report in the Upper House on Wednesday evening.

It cited email correspondence between the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Senator Brandis' own department that it was concerned he could step in and prevent them from intervening in the litigation.

"It is notable that the ATO took these rumours seriously enough to engage in preparatory action. Requesting the advice of the solicitor-general would not have been done lightly," the report said.

Senator Brandis did not prevent the ATO getting involved, and he has previously stated he accepted the strong advice of the former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson that the Commonwealth should join the ATO's challenge to the WA legislation.

Government report says no allegations have been proven

The committee report also slammed Senator Brandis as "evasive".

"Throughout this process, this committee has been frustrated by the failure of the Government and the Attorney-General to provide timely answers to questions," the report said.

"Additionally, the Attorney-General has refused to answer certain questions and made public interest immunity claims to avoid giving the committee critical information it needs to satisfactorily undertake this inquiry."

In its dissenting report, the Government senators argued the entire inquiry was an attack on Senator Brandis' character.

"[The] Labor and Greens political party majority are far more concerned with personal political attacks than they are with educing factual evidence regarding the Bell Group matter," the report said.

Written by Coalition senator Ian Macdonald, the dissenting report said none of Labor and the Greens' allegations had been proven.

"The ludicrous and frankly offensive proposition that the Attorney-General interfered with the ATO's intervention in the Bell Group litigation has been comprehensively disproved by compelling evidence presented to the inquiry by senior officers of the ATO and the [Attorney-General's Department]," it said.

The majority report made a number of recommendations, including that Senator Brandis should not have claimed legal and professional privilege on key pieces of evidence and that the Attorney-General should allow agencies like the ATO to act without interference.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, australia, wa