Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I did say that the government has become arrogant, but there are people who do not go along with that arrogance. Thank goodness that from within the ranks of any large party which, through hubris, thinks that it is all-powerful and does not know where to constrain that power will come people of conscience and ethics who will say: ‘Too far! We will not go along with that.’ That is what we have seen today and in some previous votes, and we will see more of it.

I will tell you why. It is because Prime Minister John Howard has let the numbers in this parliament and the vote of the last election go to his head, and he does not know how to stand back and reassess his obligation to this nation. He does not know how to show a little humility and listen to people within his ranks when they say, ‘Prime Minister, that is a step too far.’ Other people will come out and attack those good people—that is the way it always happens—but there are occasions when principle, ethics and sheer humanity dictate that they will not be defied.