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

The one thing that we cannot accuse Senator Cash of having is a sense of humour, let alone a sense of decency when it comes to thinking about the fact that people do want to go home on time. She quotes a Senate Hansard record talking about Christine Milne, my fellow senator, and me. We did go home on time. The time was set and that was the time that we went home. If Senator Cash is saying that senators’ work is entirely limited to the hours we sit in this place, she has a different work schedule to mine and I wish her luck.

Senator Cash also said that this is a stunt by left-wing people and so on. If we were to take that rather grizzled and mean-minded approach, there would be no Mother’s Day, there would be no Father’s Day, there would be no Earth Day and we would have no Thanksgiving Day. It all would have been nastily shut down at the outset. Sure it comes from the Australia Institute and the good people she has mentioned, including Dr Richard Dennis—and good on them for wanting to make our society think a little bit more about spending more time at home with our families. It is not a bad idea.

Question agreed to.