I make no apology for the government taking the view that if a person, having served a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, shows every indication of a willingness to repeat that crime, to reoffend as soon as they are released, they should remain behind bars.

George Brandis

Categorized in : World

I was interested in politics since the age of 14.

George Brandis

age

I've spent some time in North and Central Queensland, in fact as recently as yesterday I was in Rockhampton, where the seat of Capricornia is based. I have to tell you that people in Queensland, but particularly regional Queensland, are very concerned about jobs. They are very concerned that the economic future for themselves and their children and their grandchildren should be - should be clear.

George Brandis

yesterday jobs children

Michelle Landr is a fabulous member of Parliament. She is a true representative of that community. She's a classic middle-of-the-road Australian who represents the interests of her community with passion and with a lot of common sense.

George Brandis

common-sense passion community

I decided few years ago to leave the bar to pursue a career in politics because I wanted to make a contribution in Parliament.

George Brandis

bars careers years

Bill Shorten should - either knows that or at least he should know it and for him to change the conversation by proposing - by suggesting a proposal significantly more adventurous than where the conversation has been up until now was a very unhelpful intervention.

George Brandis

adventurous proposal bills

It is a necessary precondition for the success of a referendum that there should be broad community consensus and bipartisan support for it.

George Brandis

broads support community

There have been 44 constitutional referenda in Australia and only eight have succeeded.

George Brandis

has-beens eight australia

That 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 Brandis

government journey years

Abdul Nacer Benbrika's sentence doesn't expire, I'm told, until 2021, but I think it would be invidious for me as the Attorney-General to talk about individual cases or to anticipate the way in which a court, because it would be a judicial decision, might at some unspecified future time dispose of an application under a law that hasn't even yet been enacted.

George Brandis

decision law thinking

This 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 Brandis

issues safety law

The modern Australia, the Australia of the 21st Century, Malcolm Turnbull's Australia has nothing to do with the kind of protectionist and xenophobic attitudes that Pauline Hanson represents.

George Brandis

australia kind attitude

She is not being preferenced - she's not on our preference card because Pauline Hanson's view of Australia is basically a very - it's a very old view.

George Brandis

australia views cards

Well I'm not making predictions. But the point I can - what I can say to you to contribute to your thinking is as somebody who has been out knocking on doors, doing the street corners, speaking to constituents right across the country is that the Government - that people understand that the Government's message of jobs and growth is addressing their concerns and they have a level of - a high level of confidence that Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are the people who can deliver.

George Brandis

jobs country thinking

Historically, it's very unusual after a change of government for the new government not to be returned.

George Brandis

new-government unusual government

If you were a person in Rockhampton who is wondering where your next job was coming from, and you had the prospect of one of Australia's largest ever coal projects with a very, very long life span being developed and reviving the regional economy. And you saw the Greens in particular doing their little best to stop it happening.

George Brandis

australia jobs long

If there were to be a Labor-Greens government, that would be the end of the Adani mine, that would be the end of coal mining in central Queensland, and that would be the end of their best shot at economic prosperity in the future.

George Brandis

coal government would-be

A dining club which I was involved in at Oxford University invited Sir Isaiah Berlin to dinner, who I believe was probably the greatest liberal philosopher in the 20th century. I sat beside him and we spoke about liberal philosophy and the events of the 20th century all night over dinner - it was unforgettable!

George Brandis

philosophy night believe

One of the senior Labor frontbenchers from Queensland, Terri Butler, said that she was against the Adani mine. So that is the clearest statement we've had from a person who would be a member of a Shorten government, that if there were to be a Shorten government as far as she's concerned, the Adani mine wouldn't go ahead. People in Rockhampton know that and they're very worried about it.

George Brandis

senior government people

Capricornia is one of the most marginal seats in the country. So naturally the electoral battle is fought in the marginal seats.

George Brandis

seats battle country

Capricornia there is a particular regional particularity and that is the Adani mine. We know that Adani, the massive Indian coal company, wants to develop the Carmichael mine... And people in Rockhampton know that and they know that the Greens are doing everything they possibly can to prevent the development of the Adani mine.

George Brandis

coal development people