Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

You are a Tasmanian, Senator Brown, and I acknowledge and admire the fact that you are prepared to stand up for what you believe in. That is important and is what we should be doing in this place. You should use the mechanisms that exist in this parliament to stand up for the things that you believe in and to try and achieve outcomes. That is what we should be doing, but to criticise somebody else for doing that is something I find disappointing. That is what we are here for; that is what we are here to do. It is an important part of the processes of being a member of this place. I make the point that it seems to be okay to criticise another senator for doing what is your stock in trade, and you are very good at it.

This is not about trying to destroy; this is trying to alert the government that there needs to be a proper way of dealing with this. I tried very hard, during my initial presentation, to ensure I did not give the impression that we were all about knocking over, destroying, raping and pillaging, as has been suggested. That is not what I am about and that is not what this process is about. The theme that I bring in today is the way that the government has managed this. Senator Milne spoke of Jamie Kirkpatrick, who was a part of this process and is recognised as having some real authority in making a contribution to this process. Let me put on the record what Mr Kirkpatrick actually said as part of the listing:

The only way of doing it in the longer term is to make it financially attractive for land owners to maintain grasslands. And that means stewardship payments—

and I acknowledge that Senator Milne talked about that, as did Senator Xenophon—

payment for performance. And it’s really necessary to have that in the case of grasslands because they are not simple to manage.

And I acknowledge that the government made comments in respect of that as well. He went on:

I agree with the listing, but I don’t agree with just having a listing and just leaving it at that. That is worthless.

But that is what this government has done. The landowners made an application for funding to assist them with protecting the grasslands. A week after announcing the nomination, the government rejected it. Here is one of the experts, one of the authorities that Senator Milne quoted, saying that the process that the government has undertaken is worthless. Why shouldn’t we question that? It is more than a legitimate process.

I acknowledge Senator Xenophon’s contribution to this and his negotiations with the government. If the only thing that this disallowance motion does is prompt the government to put in place some real actions to carry this forward, given that nothing has happened since the listing in June, then at least we have achieved something. This goes back to the principles I spoke about before and Senator Brown using the mechanisms of this place to achieve outcomes. At least we have achieved something if it has sparked the government to do something. The local member has not been able to achieve anything at this stage. At least the government is now putting in place a process based on the pressure of this process to take it forward.

I thank my colleagues for their contribution to this debate. I again express my disappointment that the Greens come in here trying to label people who disagree with them. They will not argue the case. They try and denigrate anyone who has a different view—their stock in trade, unfortunately. I commend the motion to the Senate because it does place pressure on the government. That is why the mechanisms were put into this bill in the first place. That is part of this process. It does not necessarily always have to be about politics, Senator Brown. It can be about trying to do the right thing and getting the government to do the right thing. I think you understand that because you are more than capable and have demonstrated your willingness to use the processes of this place to try and pressure the government into achieving outcomes. That is what I hope we can achieve out of this process today.

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Colbeck’s) be agreed to.