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

The fact is that this is deplorable legislation and it is corrupt. The fact is that this legislation is the absolute power of the government using its numbers to put legislation through here to line the pockets of members in the run to the next election in a way that is simply not available to competitors in what should be a fair and equal race. It is totally out of hand. As Senator Evans and Senator Murray have outlined, it goes from bad to worse. It is reprehensible that the Prime Minister should be not only permitting but driving a process where taxpayers’ money is taken through a series of measures like this and given primarily to government members of parliament so that they can advantage themselves against others standing in what is supposed to be a democratic election next year. That is what this is all about, as Senator Evans and Senator Murray have said. The process is corrupting—and we have to call a spade a spade here—and the Prime Minister is overseeing this corrupting process. He can come out into the public arena and put his point of view on that, but the fact is that is how this must be described because that is the appropriate description for it.