Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection: ‘What’s news about that?’ There is nothing new about that. It is the same old tactic that you have engaged in for over a decade. Why does anybody think that they will change their minds? If we defer this, as they wish to, until after Copenhagen, does anybody honestly believe that Senator Minchin, who claims that action on climate change is an abomination and climate change itself is some form of left-wing conspiracy, is magically going to alter by the passing of a couple of months? I think not.

This is not an issue of scrutiny, because this legislation has been very thoroughly debated. It has been in draft form before this parliament since March, it has been before this parliament since May and it has been the subject of Senate inquiries. It has been debated once already in this chamber and voted down. It has been in the Senate—