Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to speak to that same report. I will not take long. I want to simply highlight to those who might be listening that the speech they heard from the former leader of the Greens in this place was typical of her approach to matters in this chamber through all the time of her leadership—and that was that, if the Liberals did it, it is bad, and, if Labor or the Greens did it, it is good. Senator Milne did not highlight the fact that the Charter of Budget Honesty was an initiative of the Liberal government when Mr Costello was Treasurer. All of the accountability provisions that apply in this parliament are initiatives of Liberal-National Party governments over many years.

Senator Milne talks about costing of Greens election policies. With no disrespect to the Parliamentary Budget Office, which can only work on the material given to it by the Greens, anyone who saw that document would have had a good smile at it but would not have been encouraged to take on the Greens policies by anything the Parliamentary Budget Office might have done.

I remember several years ago one of their policies related to easier provision for some drugs around the place. This was before Senator Milne's time when Senator Bob Brown was the leader of the Greens. That was the first time anyone had had a good look at Greens policies. They were exposed, I think, by a Melbourne newspaper, which showed what the Greens election policies were all about. The coalition has always been open and frank with election policies— (Time expired)