Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Of course, what will be told is that we have a government that has a mandate to implement this change. Let me tell you what mandate this government has. It has a mandate to govern, it has a mandate to prosecute its arguments and it has a mandate to negotiate with the parliament. But it does not have a mandate to railroad legislation through this parliament without any opposition. Only yesterday we heard Senator Macdonald compare the issue of climate change to 1930s Germany. Let me tell you what totalitarianism is. Totalitarianism is expecting that, just because you have won an election, there should be no opposition, there should be no Senate and that we should acquiesce to the policies of the government of the day. That is not democracy. Democracy means the government has a mandate to govern and those millions of people who voted for the Greens, Labor or the Independents also have a mandate to prosecute their arguments to ensure that this parliament remains a democracy.

Where was the respect for the Labor Party's mandate in 2007 when it promised to introduce an ETS? Where was Prime Minister Tony Abbott's respect for that mandate when that was taken to the 2007 election? Where was the respect for the mandate of the Senate, also democratically elected? People who vote in the Senate do so intentionally, knowing that they are voting for a hand on the shoulder of the executive of the day. So we will continue to fight until this legislation makes its way through the parliament. The parliament of today will be determining the future of my kids and the future of kids right around the country. We will be making decisions that do not affect us. As Senator Cameron said yesterday, he is not a young man anymore.