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

We take upon ourselves the responsibility in this chamber to fund the measures we put through. The shadow minister, Mr Robert, has been a very good liaison point. He came up with a good idea for funding this legislation. It was then found that that option was not available, because it had already been taken up by the government in prior budget considerations. That left the Greens option on the table, and the opposition voted that down; otherwise, we would have a different outcome. The opposition needs to look at that. I reiterate that the option put forward is a Treasury backed option for funding social measures as well as many other measures. The opposition is putting its head in the sand. Not only does it not want to fund this legislation; it wants to cut income to the Treasury. You cannot expect to be seen as fair dinkum with legislation like this. Vote for the Greens financing option and be responsible, and you will get the right outcome.