Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, Senator Marshall, we have seen that time and time again. I am so pleased that you have indicated you do not have a soul. We know that there are many on that side who do have or who claim to have a soul. This is an alliance that has caused more grief for your colleagues and yourself than for anyone else. This is an alliance whose consequences we will live with until we come to an election.

We do not support the amendment to Senator Abetz's amendment. We think that it is very hypocritical of the Greens to pitch themselves as the moral guardians, if you like, of the environment. They claim to hold that moral high ground, yet, when they sought to take a committee chair from the opposition, they chose not the environment committee, but the community affairs committee. In doing so, as we know, they took that chair from the very able Senator Humphries. Now they are seeking to encroach, to expand their territory, to take on another committee chair, and it is, once again, not the environment committee but the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee. What is the hidden agenda here? Is it the social agenda that they are more concerned about than environmental pursuits? I go back to their primary vote at the last election. It is a sad day if a minority party can control the agenda of this country with a primary vote of only 11 per cent.

In conclusion, Senator Abetz referred to the Adelaide Advertiser article, which I also read first thing yesterday morning before I even saw the red that was circulated in the chamber. It smacked once again, very typically, of the absolute contempt that the Leader of the Greens and his colleagues have for this Senate, contempt in that they would advertise, in advance, something that the Senate had not even voted on. That shows their absolute arrogance and the confidence that they have in their position with the government in their formal alliance. Nothing demonstrates their hubris more than the confidence they have that they will effectively ensure that they can chair another committee.

As I said at the beginning, this would be laughable if it were not so tragic, to be honest. This is a total indictment of this place. I raised the hypocrisy of the senator in discussing standing orders of this place. What is good for him is not good for everybody else. The same principles apply here. We do not support this. We do not believe that it truly reflects our elected mandate to properly pursue the Senate processes of this place. We strongly reject the Greens' proposal to take the chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee.