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

by leave—This is a quite extraordinary proposal being put forward by Senator Fielding. I presume, but I do not know, that it means that the Independents have not been able to determine who should be on the committee. But the way to resolve that is not by giving a quite untoward representation to my Independent colleagues. The equivalent would be to add all five Greens. If we follow through on that logic, we should hold the committee in here, of the whole Senate, and make sure that everybody gets an opportunity. These are difficult matters. I have been in this position before when, as the single Greens senator, I could not get onto the committee I wanted to. You have to accept that. I guess I am foreshadowing that the Greens will not support this process, for very important procedural reasons in this place.