Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, but I respect my colleagues’ convenience—and we do not want to be here on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, so we do want to get this over and done with. But it needs to be said that the substantive part of the bill before the Senate says:

(1E) A law of a State or Territory has no effect to the extent to which the law in any way prohibits a person or body from, or penalises or discriminates against a person or body for:

(a) entering into, or proposing to enter into, an arrangement under subsection (1); or

(b) taking part in or assisting with, or proposing to take part in or assist with, the conduct of an activity (such as a plebiscite) to which an arrangement under subsection (1) relates.

Senator Brown, if any council in Australia wants to have a plebiscite on Kyoto or anything else then it can do that. But if you are a council in Queensland and want to have a plebiscite on your own future then you would be thrown in jail. It is this federal legislation that overrides the Queensland legislation to that effect. So if a council wants to have a vote on Kyoto then it should go ahead and do it. It is free to do it. But if you want to have a vote on the future of that council then you would be thrown in jail. That is the difference.