Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

On cue, an interjection from Senator Siewert. Allow me to turn to the Greens contributions. It was quite a bizarre contribution from he who would seek to have control of the Senate under a Rudd government. I recall Senator Brown on the TV in Tasmania condemning the potential early recall of the parliament. There was no necessity for that and it would be a total waste of taxpayers’ money, he said, because the parliament was going to start sitting on 6 August. There was no need to recall parliament early; we could start dealing with the legislation on 6 August and debate it then. Guess what? We did not recall parliament early; we want to start debating it this week. Guess what? Senator Brown is against that as well. Unfortunately, that has become the hallmark of his silly approach to anything within the public domain. You run one reason to oppose something one day and then run the exact opposite reason the next day just so you can get a cheap headline and be seen opposing the government. That is why the Australian Greens should never be provided with the balance of power in this place. They simply are not deserving of it.

We were also told that the parliament was being bypassed and abused. Hello! We are in the parliament, we are in the Australian Senate, we are debating the issues and every single parliamentarian will be voting on these measures. I might add that some of us have got into this parliament with three or four times the vote that Senator Brown and others have gained from their constituencies and so, if I might say, we speak with a degree more authority and more public support than that which Senator Brown would assert for himself and his small crew of Green senators. The Labor Party have taken a conscious decision on this, as have the Democrats, as have we and as have the Greens, and the numbers will fall where they will. That is the democratic process. But you cannot say the parliament is being sidelined on the very day that you are debating the matter within the parliament and are about to have a vote on the issue in the parliament. This is the sort of nonsense that we get fed from the Australian Greens every day. And that is why we do get fed up with their mantra.

Can I simply say to the Australian Greens about all their fancy words about abiding by the rules: now there is a first! The Australian Greens—who condone members of their staff trying to handcuff themselves and organising to try to get people handcuffed at a public demonstration, damaging the Prime Minister’s vehicle, doing those sorts of things—are all of a sudden putting hand on heart, saying, ‘You’ve got to abide by the rules.’ We are abiding by the rules, because the standing orders in this place do allow for this debate to take place and for senators to take a vote. We are abiding by the rules. Are we rushing it through? Yes, we are, because we believe that this is a national crisis.