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

That is really a statement of defeat from the opposition. It cannot, of itself, do an analysis of a perfectly straightforward amendment because it is in opposition and it does not have access to the modellers that it previously had, so, rather than look at the merit of the amendment, the opposition is going to vote it down.

This is Senator Bernardi talking about the failure of the Greens, for goodness sake, to look after pensioners and veterans. He is talking across the chamber here to the Greens, who have pursued a proper remuneration for pensioners who live below the poverty line from the Howard government, which did nothing for them over 11 years and which left them languishing in poverty. Of course, they still are, because nor was anything done about their basic income and ability to get themselves good services in the current 2007-08 budget under the Labor government. The Greens have been fighting and will continue to fight a campaign for much better conditions and much better remuneration generally to come out of this parliament. We did not see that under the Howard government and so far we have not seen it under the Rudd government. Senator Siewert’s amendment here speaks for itself. It is easy for Senator Bernardi to debase this debate with throwaway terms like ‘ferns and frangipanis’. Frankly, it is a serious debate, Chair—you will appreciate that—and it deserves better than that sort of comment.