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

What a small-minded, humourless and grim response that is. Whatever we might think about each other, on occasion there comes an international accolade. I do not think it does us any harm as a community of elected representatives to say, when that happens, 'congratulations' to the person involved. We learnt at school that if somebody gets an award you congratulate them. That is what this motion is about, and I think the opposition has failed to step up to an average, decent standard of behaviour towards a fellow politician—who, I might say, has been very humble in his response to that accolade and has passed it on as a tribute to the Australian people. The coalition should have been a little bit more positive on this occasion.

Question agreed to.