Senate debates
Monday, 7 November 2011
Bills
Clean Energy Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Household Assistance Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge — General) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Auctions) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Fixed Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Customs) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Excise) Bill 2011, Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011, Climate Change Authority Bill 2011; In Committee
5:45 pm
Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source
I was going to stand up and just directly ask some questions but I cannot help but comment on the fact that, the government having given us an extraordinarily truncated opportunity to deal with the committee stage for these bills, we have now seen for the second time today Senator Thistlethwaite jumping up and contributing to this particular part of the process. That is just extraordinary. There is absolutely no reason, apart from padding out some sort of filibuster—goodness knows why—for this from the senator on the other side, who did not even ask a question. It is just another example of the process of this place having gone completely pear shaped under this government. On the one hand on the other side they say: 'Hurry up, hurry up. Let's get all this done with. You know you are going to vote against it. Why are you even talking about this, coalition?' And yet we have senators on the government side coming in and blithering on with not so much as a question at the end of it all. That is an extraordinary way for a government to run the chamber.
I would like to raise a few issues here as part of looking at the amendment put by my very good colleague Senator Birmingham on behalf of the coalition around the very fact that the government should wait until after the next election to introduce a carbon tax. I know we have canvassed this before, so I am not going to go into it at length, but it just seems absolutely extraordinary that the government and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will not wait until after another election to bring this carbon tax in. Why not? I wonder why not, colleagues. We all know why not. She is not game to take it to the Australian people because the people out there across these communities are saying loud and clear that they do not want a carbon tax.
The Prime Minister said before the last election, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' In his comments earlier, Senator Xenophon was a little bit magnanimous in his view that it was not actually a lie to the Australian people. I think it was a lie to the Australian people. Regardless of that, Senator Xenophon agreed that—
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