I would say to the people of Queensland, and to all listeners around the country, is that if you want stable government in the next term of parliament, it's not just enough to reelect the [Malcolm] Turnbull government. It's also important to elect a senate which will be able to deal with the important reforms, with the important legislation, in a way in which the senate in the last parliament was unable to deal with.
George BrandisThat was an extremely unhelpful thing for Bill Shorten to say because those of us - and as the Attorney-General I've been closely involved in this along with my colleague Nigel Scullion, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs - what we have been trying to do for some years now, throughout the life of the Coalition Government in fact, is to bring the Australian people on a journey with us - conservative Australians as well as more progressive Australians, to persuade them that it is a seemly and fitting and decent and appropriate thing to recognise the first Australians in the Constitution.
George BrandisI am because the Chinese have agreed - entered into this agreement in 1997. It sets out the circumstances in which the release of a prisoner who is the subject of a transfer may occur in exceptional circumstances. So the Chinese, having agreed to those principles, I'm sure have no objection to them being applied in this particular case.
George BrandisI decided few years ago to leave the bar to pursue a career in politics because I wanted to make a contribution in Parliament.
George BrandisThis is an issue that the Prime Minister put on the COAG agenda. First of all, it is something that would only apply in an extreme case where the service by a terrorist of a sentence of imprisonment had in no way curbed their desire or their intention to commit terrorist offences in the community, so that this is a - would be a public safety measure. The second point I'd make to you is that this is not unknown to the law.
George BrandisI've always been a lover of classical music ever since I was an early teenager I suppose. I remember the very first piece of classical music that grabbed me was I bought an LP of Daniel Barenboim performing Mozart's piano concertos and I would have been about 14 or 15 at the time and I remember I played it over and over again.
George BrandisOpera Australia has a mix - it produces new work, it produces from the classical repertoire and, particularly in more recent years, it's done those blockbuster musicals which are very lucrative for it and reach an audience that classic opera or a new opera perhaps wouldn't reach, like South Pacific for example.
George Brandis