Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the amendment in relation to tax deductibility and stopping this proposal the government has put forward. I want to respond to Senator Carr’s accusations about cheap politics, grabbing the headlines and the consequences for the political system of short-term opportunism. I agree with that. But it was Labor in Tasmania who made an art form of it, with their short-term opportunism and abuse of politicians—saying that we had too many politicians in Tasmania, that they cost too much, that we should get rid of them and that there were too many of them who had their snouts in the trough.

It was Labor in Tasmania under the late Premier Jim Bacon, who was Leader of the Opposition at the time, who drove day in, day out a cynical, short-term politically opportunist message that we needed to reduce the numbers and get rid of the parliamentarians. It was a cynical manipulation of the electoral system to reduce the numbers in the parliament to try to get rid of the Greens. If ever a political party used short-term opportunism with dire consequences for the political process, it was Labor in Tasmania.

The government, which was a Liberal minority government, clapped their hands, cheered and went with them. Together they suspended the standing orders of the Tasmanian parliament. They then changed the Constitution without going to a referendum by using a two-thirds majority—a ganging up of the two major parties. They pushed through and changed the Tasmanian Constitution to reduce the numbers in the House of Assembly from 35 to 25, destroying the committee system and destroying all the reforms that we had put in place over a period of years. They turned the Tasmanian parliament into a dysfunctional parliament where now almost all the members acknowledge that 25 is not a critical mass capable of running the state.

So if ever there was a case of using ‘snouts in the trough’, of arguing that politicians cost too much and they are a waste of space, then it was Labor in Tasmania in order to achieve—the only way they ever could—a majority government because they knew, we knew and the Liberal Party knew that as long as the Greens were in the Tasmanian parliament Labor could never achieve a majority. That is why they reduced the numbers as they did, successfully eliminated three of the four members at that time and got their majority. That is how it happened and it was precisely for the reason that Senator Carr just outlined: it was short-term opportunism of the most cynical and despicable kind. The people of Tasmania are still suffering under a dysfunctional parliament because of it.

I am absolutely persuaded that it is only a matter of time before some of those ministers in Tasmania, who voted for the reduction and went along with this short-termism, will be the ones saying: ‘There is too much of a workload. We have to expand the ministry. We have to expand the numbers again.’ Because they knew all along that 25 was not enough of a critical mass to run a parliament. I reject the notion that the minor parties are engaged in some sort of political opportunism and grab for a cheap headline. What the minor parties here are trying to do is restore some integrity and transparency to the political process. I support Family First’s proposed amendment. It is Greens policy. It was supported initially by Senator Christabel Chamarette many years ago, and we will be supporting this amendment.