Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have to say that, in rising to respond to Senator Carr’s rather inept personal attack on someone who is a very valuable minister, valued by his colleagues and this government, I found his attack extraordinarily personal. And, unlike many of Senator Carr’s colleagues, I think he has indulged in a fit of schadenfreude or a malicious enjoyment of others’ misfortunes.

It has been my custom to observe in here that most of the senators treat each other with a great deal of respect. I suppose that Senator Carr is responding to how he is treated by his own Labor colleagues. In Senator Carr’s remarks, his decrying of the achievements of Senator Campbell at an early age where he was involved in business and helping people in business, the politics of envy become apparent once again. One can only suppose that Senator Carr put himself forward as organiser for the teachers union because that is what you do if you want to get on in the Labor Party: you put yourself forward as an organiser. But he was rejected. Once? No, not once—he was rejected twice. How is Senator Carr regarded by his Labor colleagues? Well, I will not cast aspersions upon him but there is a North Korean dictator that he is likened to because of his conduct in a number of areas.

It is very disappointing to see personal attacks on ministers and I would like to say that this minister has been a very good minister. He has fought tirelessly for the environment. He has worked very hard to balance the economic needs of this country with its environmental needs and the continuing concerns for preserving our environment for not only our generation but also future generations. Part of this, of course, has come because the minister has been out there trying to stop whaling, a practice that this country does not support, and he has done a very good job in that regard.

He has also worked very hard to protect species such as the orange-bellied parrot. It occupied the Labor Party for quite a number of minutes in question time, so it is something that they feel very passionate about. But rather than support the minister’s decision to ensure that the parrot in question was protected and the hundred breeding pairs were allowed to continue to breed unmolested, the Labor Party has sought to turn it into a political stunt.

The fact is there is a balance between our environmental policies and our economic requirements in this country. It is a very fine line. It is a line that we take very seriously as a country and as a government. In their attack on a minister for doing his job and acting in the best interests of not only this country’s economic prosperity but also its environmental prosperity, we see a party that is completely bereft of ideas, sending in their war machines to try and denigrate a minister based on some speculative comments in a periodical. The fact is that the minister has been recognised by his colleagues, by the Prime Minister and by various publications as acquitting himself very well in his responsibilities and his roles.

Take some of the things that we have done. We touched on solar cities during question time. One of the great initiatives of this government has been to start the first solar city in my home town of Adelaide. Adelaide is certainly a great city in which to trial a project such as this because we have abundant sunlight and sunshine. We are working—again, with industry—in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by installing solar panels across a number of homes in areas where it will benefit people financially and economically but also where it will have a great impact in leading the nation. So successful has been the take-up and the acceptance of and the interest in this program that, in Townsville in September of this year, the government announced that the second solar city initiative would be forthcoming in Townsville.

This minister is interested in protecting our wildlife and preserving our natural heritage and environment. He is interested in ensuring that our greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. And he is interested in us maintaining our position as an environmentally friendly and sustainable society. So I find it very difficult to accept any criticism of— (Time expired)