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

The fact is that this legislation, which Senator Conroy now says was the legislation of the previous government, and which is so seriously flawed, is now the legislation of the Rudd government—this government. And the best that Senator Conroy can do is say: ‘We essentially didn’t look at it, or at least we didn’t find anything wrong with it. We’ve brought it into the Senate without having had any decent review of it.’ But, as members contributing from the opposition benches and the crossbenches are pointing out, it is seriously flawed. This legislation is effectively opening up a rort whereby millions of dollars of tax deductions are going to be spent, including the takeover of food-producing land in Australia—