The secretary of the Attorney-General's Department, Chris Moraitis, yesterday confirmed that Professor Triggs was told a senior role would be available if she resigned after being told she no longer had the confidence of the Attorney-General. Attorney-General George Brandis and Professor Gillian Triggs during a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Moraitis denied explicitly linking Professor Triggs' resignation to the job offer. He maintained he did not take the offer to be "an inducement" and did not use the word "resignation" during a meeting with Professor Triggs on February 3. But he conceded under questioning from Labor and Greens senators that "one would flow from the other", effectively confirming that the job offer was contingent upon Professor Triggs accepting that her position was untenable. As Prime Minister Tony Abbott escalated his attack on Professor Triggs in the Parliament, accusing her of losing the confidence of the Australian people, she signalled a determination to resist political pressure to resign.

"I believe I am very able to carry out the work of the commission and that I have the support of the commissioners and the staff," a defiant Professor Triggs said during a day-long appearance before a Senate committee. Confirmation that Professor Triggs had been offered an incentive to resign, reported exclusively in Fairfax Media on February 13, prompted Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young to declare during the hearing: "It sounds like a bribe, it smells like a bribe. What we're trying to work out is whether it is." Senator Hanson-Young later said the Greens were considering a formal referral to the Australian Federal Police. "This is an extremely serious case. If a position was offered, as an inducement to encourage the president to resign, that would be a clear breach of the criminal code," she said. "The government is obsessed with shutting down dissent and, this time, may have gone too far." Labor's Senate leader, Penny Wong, said Senator Brandis' attack on Professor Triggs and his failure to defend the commission "shows he is unfit to be the [Attorney-General]".

Mr Moraitis told the Senate committee he had visited Professor Triggs on February 3 and conveyed three messages: that the Attorney-General had lost confidence in Professor Triggs as president of the commission; that he retained significant "goodwill" towards her; and that there would be a "senior legal role that her skills could be used for" if she wanted to pursue it. Under questioning, he confirmed that accepting this role would mean resigning as president. During question time Prime Minister Tony Abbott then launched an assault on Professor Triggs saying she had lost the confidence of the government and her recent inquiry into children in detention was a "political stitch-up". "It's absolutely crystal clear, this inquiry by the president of the Human Rights Commission is a political stitch-up," he said. "I don't know what matters have been canvassed with Professor Triggs, all I know is that she was asked by Labor, 'Do you understand it to be an inducement?' And she said, 'I'd prefer not to use that term'. "If she'd rather not use that term, members opposite should not either."

Senator Brandis had earlier on Tuesday told Senate estimates that he had lost confidence in Professor Triggs after her "error in judgment" in conducting an investigation into children in detention had opened the Human Rights Commission to accusations of bias. Follow us on Twitter