Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am merely responding to Senator Abetz. I noticed that Senator Macdonald found Senator Abetz riveting and totally relevant but does not find the same issue relevant now. Senator Macdonald needs to recognise that the IMF has exactly the same position as the Greens on emissions trading. It says that $20 a tonne is an appropriate carbon price and that there needs to be a pathway to increase that over time consistent with the scientific imperative.

On the issue of marriage equality, I am very delighted and proud of the fact that the Greens are playing a very strong role in working towards marriage equality, just as we are on the issue of addressing climate change. This is an issue of discrimination in the Australian community. We want to get rid of discrimination in Australia and that is why we opposed the Stronger Futures legislation and the Northern Territory intervention—they are discriminatory. It is why we take such a strong view on social justice when it comes to people seeking asylum in our country. It is also why we support marriage equality. We happen to think that the removal of discrimination is a key component of a healthy life in a democratic society that is progressive and pursuing long-term change for the better. That is where the Greens are coming from.

If the coalition had demonstrated that they were able to use the shared balance of power in a constructive way and not spent all their time on useless filibusters and in making ridiculous claims—such as the claim that Fairfax is reducing its workforce by 1,900 because of carbon pricing, which is complete and utter nonsense—then we would not need to pass this kind of motion. Because their nonsense goes on for days and days, we want to make sure that we get legislation through this parliament for the long-term betterment of the country.

One of the bills that will be coming before the Senate soon is to establish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. That will provide $10 billion to support renewable energy and low carbon emissions technology in Australia. That will help drive the kinds of change that the community wants us to pursue. We are trying to make this country more responsive to the climate task and more innovative. We want new manufacturing to be built in Australia to make up for the hollowing out of the manufacturing sector that occurred under the Howard government.

We also want to see a major investment in education in Australia and particularly the implementation of the Gonski review. As the Secretary of the Treasury said last night, Australia cannot expect to continue to base its prosperity on mineral extraction. We have to invest in increased productivity. He called it hard work but I say that it has to do with investing in education and training. That is the key way in which we will improve productivity in Australia. That productivity increase has to come from maximising our investment in education and training.

For a democratic parliament to work well all parties need to be positive and need to want to bring about long-term change for a better future for Australia. That does not mean filibustering debates; that does not mean stacking and changing parliamentary committees to make sure that you can never get outcomes other than those the government wants; that does not mean blocking other people from being able to set up Senate inquires. The Senate inquiry process is one of the strengths of the Senate and that process was completely destroyed under the Howard government. It does not augur well to hear someone like Senator Abetz speaking with such hypocrisy about time management while failing to acknowledge that the Howard government chose to guillotine the privatisation of Telstra, the Northern Territory intervention and the water reforms.

The Greens will be supporting this motion. We want to see constructive outcomes for Australia in the long term. We want a stronger and better Australia. That is where we come from. We are going to put our shoulders to the wheel and make sure that we get good legislative outcomes for Australia. We will do that while the coalition continues with its harping negativity, its complete denial of science and reality and the intent to uphold discrimination in Australia. If that is what the coalition stands for, then it will be judged by its actions.