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

they think they have a right to do that. But they do not. One of the things that is very hard for them to stomach is the fact that this is a democracy and that every senator elected to this place is elected on an equal basis. That includes of course the Greens, whom a member of their side yesterday said should be precluded from being in the Senate. You can see where the extension of that thinking would be if we did not have the protection of the Constitution, which Australians have shown over the last century they are very committed to because it does stop the overboil of the sort of mentality we are seeing on the other side.

Senator Brandis interjecting—

Not being able to express their will to get rid of the Greens, who now are supported by a 1.7 million voter base in this country, the personal diatribe—