Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

One of the pleasures of speaking last in the matters of public interest debate is that you can reflect on the speeches other contributors have made. In all the speeches made by the Labor Party members and their fellow travellers in the Greens, a common theme comes through, and that is the theme of: let us use a few nuances and give an impression so that we can create a situation that is far removed from the truth of any matter. Let me demonstrate by reference to some of the speeches today.

Senator Forshaw gave his version of history about the beginning of the Second World War and who supported whom in those days. What Senator Forshaw forgot to mention, of course, was that when communist Russia was closely aligned with Nazi Germany, the Labor and union movement in Australia in those years said very little about the Nazis and, of course, nothing about communist Russia. They were pretty good when they went and, between them, raped Poland and divided it up. It was only when the Nazis turned against the communists and Russia a year or so into the war that suddenly there was a huge outcry against not only the Nazis but also all of their fellow travellers and in support of the communist Russian government at that time, which then became an ally of the Western powers as opposed to an ally of Nazi Germany, as they were at the beginning of the war. Senator Forshaw forgot to mention those sorts of things.

Then we had Senator Milne from the Greens. The Greens are anti uranium, anti nuclear fuel. We were told that today by Senator Milne, and she is going to do everything in her power to stop it. They are also anti fossil fuel, anti coal, against all the jobs in Queensland and elsewhere throughout Australia that rely on the coal industry, anti hydro power and anti renewables. Remember, they do not want to use forest off-takes to support renewable energy, as most of the green parties in Europe actually do. The green parties in Europe support renewable energy and forest off-takes to create fuel. So it seems that the Greens are against all forms of fuel in Australia. They are of course some of the people in Australia who always use the power and never turn off their lights. They always have homes with lovely wooden floors while at the same time trying to destroy the Australian forestry industry.