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

I am not withdrawing that. It is not a point of order for a start, Madam Acting Deputy President, as you well know. Here are the Greens going around saying people are saying that doing this bioregional marine planning will stop people enjoying the beaches, stop people walking along the beaches and stop people having a swim in the surf. This is the sort of approach that the Greens and the Labor Party take to anything: verbal anyone you like and rewrite history as you would like and do not let that get in the way of your goal to stop any extractive industries or any fishing at all, recreational or otherwise, within Australia.

If you could believe anything Senator Siewert or Senator Thistlethwaite, for that matter, says, you would just ask them to read the bill. All the bill is saying is let's get a bit of science into it, let's talk to people apart from the oil supported Pew environmental group from America, let's ask real people in Australia rather than those wackos in the wilderness society and let's have this parliament have a bit of a say. Isn't it outrageous that some of the decisions on marine bioregional planning should be disallowable instruments so that the elected members of parliament, who in our system represent Australians, can have a say!

They could actually say, 'This is a good idea; let's support it.' Or they could say: 'This is going to affect my community. It's not going to do anything for marine planning so let's oppose it.' But, no; the Greens and the Labor Party would hate the representatives of the Australian people to have a say in this. This bill will make those decisions disallowable instruments. What is wrong with that? Why do you not want to have a say, Senator Siewert? You would be able to have a say in this parliament. Why do you not want a commission of independent social and economic assessment—