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

It is an important opportunity to give the nation the scrutiny of this legislation, which has been denied by the government and the opposition to this date. It sounds like the Democrats may be joining that, but the Greens will not. We believe that it should be seen after the response from the Northern Territory and after there has been due consultation and feedback from the Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory and Indigenous people right across this country, all of whom are impacted upon, as against the white community, by this legislation.

We are totally in support of measures to protect children. As we know, the federal government has taken extraordinary measures without this legislation and will continue to do so. This legislation is not required for that purpose but we believe that it is such monumentally bad legislation, legislation infringing the rights of Australians, in particular First Australians, that it should be reconsidered in the way that this amendment outlines. Therefore we do not accept the amendment to the amendment.