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

Senator, you may not like it, but your treachery has been on display all week. Being duplicitous with us is one thing but being duplicitous with your own leader is, I think, quite another—but you will be judged on that. The point I want to make is that the Liberal Party signed up to an agreement that would see us complete this bill this week—that we would sit today until we had resolved it. That was your public commitment, and by voting for the Brown motion and voting for your amendment you, again, renege on a deal. You again prove your word is worth nothing; you again prove that you stand for nothing and that you will do anything other than support action on climate change.

We will oppose this motion because it reneges on a public agreement. You again seek to delay and to defer, because you will not accept your responsibilities and because, fundamentally, the Liberal Party in the Senate is dominated and led by people who deny the human impact on and contribution to climate change. You will not, therefore, support effective action. That is why we oppose this hours motion and that is why we say the Senate ought to get on with the job. We have had two years of debate, and this is the second time we have attempted to get the bill through. We allowed a full fortnight last week, and all we got was filibustering and delay. The climate sceptics generally did not even come to the chamber.