Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There has been some concern amongst government members that the coalition is supporting the establishment of the agency ARENA. I cannot imagine why. We will always support good policy. The reason that we are constantly not supporting policy around here is that there is very little good policy to support. Before I discuss the Australian Renewable Energy Agency Bill 2011 and the related bill further, I would like to reflect a little on some of the comments from the government's partner in their coalition, the Greens. I noticed with interest that Senator Milne, when this bill was first being debated in the very short debate that has been allowed today, said, 'I announced the Australian Renewable Energy Agency earlier this year.' Because of some of the behaviour yesterday by Senator Milne—who, as I understood it, was the Deputy Leader of the Greens but who spent more time, it would seem, in answering questions and queries relating to the package of clean energy bills than the responsible government minister—you would be forgiven for thinking that Senator Milne is no longer just a member of the Greens but is also a member of the government that is pushing through this legislation.

I was somewhat amused to read in today's press that one of the Labor senators made the point that the Labor government senators had quietly accepted the result of the clean energy package yesterday because they had learnt their lesson from what happened with kisses and hugs in the government benches in the House of Representatives. This Labor senator went on to say, 'We didn't want to look like we were married to the Greens.'