Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

This is very much about the motion, because this is about the Liberal Party reneging on a public agreement to bring this debate to a close and to support our legislation. That was the commitment you made to us; that was the commitment you made publicly. But, as I said, you have reneged on your election commitment to do this and you are prepared to tear down a leader to make sure it does not happen. Senator Minchin and Senator Bernardi—the climate change deniers—have said they will not accept any leader who is not prepared to make that bargain with them—that you will not have effective action on climate change. So the Liberal Party are in this position where they refuse to accept their own party room decision and are ensuring that there is no effective action on climate change. They argue that it is about delay and examination and, of course, everyone in Australia knows it is not: again, today they want to have a delay. They want to continue to run, but they cannot hide. In the end you have got to front up to your responsibilities; you have got to front up in this chamber and vote on the government’s proposal—just as you promised you would at the election and just as you promised you would last week.

Despite the total disarray in the Liberal Party, we would expect them to honour their commitment. What this motion is about is, again, breaching their commitments. They have no credibility left in this parliament and they have no credibility left in this community because they will breach any commitment and breach any promise, be it to the Australian people, the Australian Labor Party or anyone. They will—