Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a real shame that the sceptics in the Australian Greens are not prepared to accept one piece of good news because it does not suit their political purposes. It is the sceptics in the Australian Greens who are losing this debate. There is no clearer evidence of that than the Newspoll earlier this week. With everything that has been going on in this debate, and with the matters that Senator Brown and Senator Milne without any factual basis at all have been peddling to the Australian community, you would think there might have been some rise in support for the Australian Greens. The Newspoll recorded that the Australian Greens have actually dropped by two points. This is on the back of one of the most disgraceful scare campaigns we have seen for decades. The Greens have dropped because the punters do not believe them.