Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. It is about leave being given to leave this parliament four days early. And I know Senator Bob Brown does not like this. I hear him interjecting. When anyone else interjects he is first on his feet. Again, it shows the different standards this man has for himself as opposed to anyone else. It is okay for him to interject, but if anyone else does it, 'Oh, please Mr Deputy President, protect me.' But he does not mind it himself. If Senator Brown is, as Senator Abetz suggests, going to join with the Labor Party and shut this chamber down three days early so that he can go for a jaunt to South Africa then that needs to be condemned. I want to say that the people who have in the past supported the Greens for what they thought was their principled approach to parliament should now understand that there is nothing principled about the Greens political party. They will on the one hand rail against leave being given to ministers and, on the other hand, vote so that this parliament stops three days early so they can go on a—