Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the recommendations in the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. It is a decision which should have been made before any such deal with Russia was signed in the first place. It was very clear, leading up to APEC last year, that the Russians were receding from any notion of democracy and engagement but instead were going back to the old KGB days under President Putin, now the Prime Minister. That is obvious. I am not surprised to hear this kind of thing from the coalition—it was Bob Menzies, after all, who thought that profits from the sale of pig-iron to Japan were a great idea, and look where that got us. We are seeing here today exactly the same thing. We are hearing about the profits for Western Australia. Senator Cash is thinking that the income to Western Australia would be fabulous.