Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

(Tasmania—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (10:03): The Green-ALP government is drunk on its own arrogance and hubris in closing down this parliament three days early. Twenty bills by the end of today will have been guillotined through this place without one single word being allowed to be spoken in relation to those bills and not a single word being allowed to be spoken in relation to amendments to those bills. The reason is that the ALP-Green government alliance is vacating three days from the parliamentary schedule. When the parliamentary calendar was issued at the beginning of this year, it was clearly set out that 28, 29 and 30 November would be three sitting days. If those three sitting days were still available to us, the Green-ALP alliance would not have needed to have done their grubby deal, a terrible deal, which abrogates the responsibility of this parliament and abuses the parliamentary process by forcing through 20 bills, without a single word being spoken in relation to them.

Let us be quite clear: the Australian Greens have always portrayed themselves as the purveyors of political purity, as the sort of people who will always stand up for freedom of speech, who will always allow parliamentary process to be undertaken in a proper, transparent manner, and here they are as duplicitous as one can get in voting for 20 bills to be guillotined without a single word being spoken on them. I do not know how they can look at themselves in the mirror of a morning for the duplicity, the hypocrisy and the double standard. But of course those of us who have observed the Australian Greens in particular know that that is their modus operandi. If they want to debate a bill then it is absolutely essential in the cause of democracy that they be given all the time in the world to debate it, but if other people want to debate a bill then democracy does allow it to be guillotined without a single word being spoken on that bill. Their double standards are now there for all to see.

But what is worse is that the ALP have become complicit in these games, and that is why the conservative Labor voters around Australia are deserting the Australian Labor Party in droves. The Australian Labor Party have sold their political soul to the Australian Greens. Let us make no mistake: why can't we sit for those next three days at the beginning of next week? We know why. The Greens want to get to Durban, increase their carbon dioxide emissions and make fools of Australia. But why doesn't the Australian Labor Party want to sit? They have just had the embarrassment of knifing-off their own Speaker to replace him with somebody else. I simply ask this question of the Australian Labor Party and of the Australian people: do you honestly believe that Mr Slipper is a better choice as Speaker than Mr Jenkins?

Answer that question honestly. Every Labor member that I have asked that question of and every political commentator I have asked that question of have not been able to say clearly that Mr Slipper was the better choice. So if you cannot come to that conclusion, why get rid of Mr Jenkins? Why do you want to run away from the parliament for parliamentary scrutiny over the demise of a Speaker?

We also know the chances are that potentially the Mid-Year Economic and Financial Outlook, known as MYEFO, will come out next week. Oh no! The Green-Labor alliance would not want the parliament to be sitting when the Mid-Year Economic Financial Outlook comes out, because that might allow for some scrutiny. Further, the Green-ALP alliance do not want the parliament to sit so that there can be further exposure of the unravelling of the carbon tax.

Indeed, this running away from the parliament has all the hallmarks of the ALP Sussex Street tactics. Remember how Ms Keneally shut down the New South Wales parliament when things got a bit difficult? Well, Ms Gillard and the Green-Labor alliance are doing exactly the same to this place.

Earlier today we had the Greens seeking detailed explanations as to why certain people were seeking leave. Can I simply remind Senator Brown that in the past he himself has moved leave for Senator Siewert for personal reasons?