Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

In May when Senator Richard Di Natale took over the leadership of the Greens, he said he wanted to lead the Greens to mainstream values. He made the point that he was tired of the Greens being a party of protest and he wanted to take a more moderate direction. We all understand what 'moderate direction' means in this context. It means the capitulation of the Greens and their traditional values in favour of fawning capitulation to the Tories of this country.

What we have here is that the Greens are now the party of millionaires. We know what is happening across the central suburbs of this country. We know that they are becoming increasingly the party of the ultrarich. This is the party that takes the view that they are going to have the best social conscience that money can buy. Here we have an example of it, yet again, of the Greens now becoming the quislings of the tax avoidance industry. This is a party that wants to pretend that it is on the left of politics but constantly strives to be at the centre of the right of politics in this country. They are now so desperate to prove their relevance that they are prepared to capitulate to these incredibly important matters in regard to people paying enough tax.

What is at stake here? It is the Greens' capitulation to the idea that people might have to tell the people of this country how much tax they are paying. The principle of that is that as soon as they do that they will be exposed because they are not paying enough tax. When these issues were raised when the Senate passed a series of amendments to toughen up this government's position, we heard in the other place the Greens' representative describe this arrangement as a 'government of blue bloods', but they are now in lock step with them. This is a government about which Mr Adam Bandt said, 'Only a blue blood government with a born-to-rule mentality would call democracy a shabby process.' Of course, what we are seeing is the capitulation of Senator Di Natale in his desperate bid to be moderate, to be at the centre of politics, to claim that he is the mainstream player.

What we have seen here is that this is a political party that is desperate to prove how relevant they are to the Business Council of Australia and the international finance sector, and desperate to demonstrate that they are the friends of the big end of town. Who are the beneficiaries of these arrangements? They are mainly donors to the Liberal Party and people with contracts with government. These are the people you are defending in your desperate quest to be relevant and moderate, your desperate attempt to prove how important you are.

This is a matter that goes to the heart of your capitulation and you are now in league with the knuckle-draggers of the Liberal Party. The knuckle-draggers of the Liberal Party are your best friends, because you are so anxious to show this country how relevant you are, how moderate you are, how right wing you are. This is a betrayal of the people who look to you as being to the left of the Labor Party. What a joke! In the centre of Melbourne they will know the truth of this. They will know that you are in fact the party of millionaires, that you are of course desperate to demonstrate your worth to the international capital system, because that is exactly what you are about now—defending the status quo. You are not about proving social change; you are about protecting the tax avoiders—the people that do not pay their proper share, the people who you claim you are so opposed to when, in reality, you are now lickspittles in your desperate attempt to show how moderate and relevant you are.

We all know the truth about the Greens: started off as the party of protest and now of course we see the party of the quislings of the international finance and the tax avoidance industries. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.