Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens are establishing a track record in this place as the party of dirty deals done dirt cheap. They pretend to their voters that they are going to come here and fight for ordinary Australians, but do you know what? They do not fight; they fold. They pretend they are holier than thou, but they end up abandoning their principles and not standing for what they believe in. How is it progressive to stitch up a deal with a conservative side of politics, to sell out the Australian taxpayer just in order to be able to say, 'We're in the game'? How is that a progressive position?

This Senate had the numbers to insist on a greater level of tax transparency. That is what this Senate had. But what we have is the Australians Greens, who would rather play themselves into the game than actually stand up for what is right for Australian taxpayers, putting the interests of multinationals ahead of the interests of the Australian people. The Greens sell out the Australian people, and they do not even secure worthwhile benefits in return. They just say to Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull, 'Pick up the phone—here we are!' This is a dirty Greens deal done dirt cheap. That is what this Greens party is under Senator Richard Di Natale. I think what we have seen is what we also see with the Greens voting with the government to try and gag debate on this amendment—that is what they did. They are the ones who always say: 'We want debate, we want debate,' but they voted for a motion where I have to suspend standing orders to move an amendment, and they will vote with them again because they do not want a debate on this issue. What we have is a Greens party who are lousy negotiators, unprincipled deal makers and, most of all, political opportunists. We know that, because all you had to do was listen to Senator Di Natale as he said, 'Oh, well, this is better than nothing.' So we ought to suspend standing orders to amend this motion, because this Senate deserves better than the dirty deal that the political opportunists at the end of the chamber have done.