Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

This motion particularly relates to the external expansion of the Abacus childcare centre at the Treasury building. Generally speaking, the coalition supports that. The motion does, however, bring into question the management of the Parliamentary Zone, and I have for a long time had a concern about how this building seems to be undermaintained. I know it has been remarked upon elsewhere, and I know some remedial action has been taken, but it does concern me that this magnificent building still has some of its water features covered up with a bit of green cloth. I would urge the President and the Speaker to have a look at that green cloth. In my view, the cloth should be removed or the water features either be filled in or, preferably, returned.

In relation to matters that happen in this building, we have had the spectacle in the past couple of days of the Greens voting with the Labor Party to gag debate. I would not be surprised if they got up again and tried to gag me on this particular motion. Even as late as this morning, the Greens, who have all their political career indicated that they are in favour of open and free debate and parliamentary accountability, have been gagging debate. They have gagged it again this morning. More than a dozen times in the past couple of days, the Greens political party, led by Senator Dr Robert Brown, have gagged debate in this particular chamber. And that comes after literally decades of the Greens getting up in this chamber and saying how they would never gag debate and, no matter how much they disagreed with a person’s view, they would always allow that person to have a view. That seems to have gone by the board. That concerns me in relation to this particular motion that we are debating at the moment. It is something that I think needs to be made public at every opportunity.

This motion in relation to the Abacus Child Care and Education Centre at the Treasury building is one that the Senate can comfortably agree with. It is for a good cause, and it would seem to me that the motion should be supported.

Question agreed to.