A stoush between the top two law officers of the Commonwealth, has seen Federal Attorney-General George Brandis face calls for his resignation.
The country’s second-ranking law officer, Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson, has publicly criticised Senator Brandis, claiming he wasn't consulted on key laws.
The dispute also concerns a legally binding directive, or official instruction, about who can contact the Solicitor-General for legal advice.
The directive ruled that no one in government, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, could seek Mr Gleeson's advice without Senator Brandis' permission.
Senator Brandis told the Senate in September that Mr Gleeson had been consulted about the instruction during a meeting in November 2015.
“We discussed Section 12B of the Law Officers Act as the notes of the meeting show,” Senator Brandis told the ABC.
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“I invited the Solicitor-General to put to me in writing what he proposed, and in March of this year, he did so, and I took that into account as well.”
In a submission to a Senate inquiry this week, Mr Gleeson disputed that version of events.
He wrote that "at no time at that meeting did the Attorney-General indicate he was considering issuing a legally binding direction concerning the performance of the functions of the Solicitor-General".
Section 12B of the Law Officers Act states that the functions of the Solicitor-General are "to furnish his or her opinion to the Attorney-General on questions of law referred to him or her by the Attorney-General".
Senator Brandis said he was simply reinforcing the law.
“The practice had developed lazily across government over some years that were many matters that were being referred to the Solicitor-General that were not of high constitutional importance, and many departments and agencies were acting in evident ignorance of the requirements of section 12B of the Law Officers Act,” Senator Brandis said.
“And, that what was Mr Gleeson in effect was complaining about. So what we discussed at some length was how we would go about regularising the practice."
In his submission, Mr Gleeson also said he wasn't consulted about the final draft of the counter-terrorism laws, stripping dual nationals of their Australian citizenship.
Mr Gleeson took issue with Senator Brandis telling the Parliament that he had advised there was a good prospect the law would withstand a High Court challenge.
Senator Brandis however, said Mr Gleeson was consulted at times.
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the integrity of Senator Brandis is now in question.
"Senator Brandis should resign,” Mr Dreyfus told the ABC.
“It's a disgraceful act that he's engaged in here. In his formal explanatory statement he said to the Senate, "I consulted with the Solicitor-General.
"And he didn't, and the Solicitor-General has made this clear in his submission to the inquiry that's now looking into this."
Senator Brandis told Sky News he regards the whole affair as a purely administrative issue that Mr Dreyfus has vastly over emphasised.
-With AAP
