Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

That was another spurious point of order. Nevertheless, I am a proud Tasmanian. My father is Tasmanian; my mother is Western Australia—I will put that on record. However, Senator Smith, the half of me that is Western Australian is very happy for you to be giving GST money to the other half of me that is Tasmanian. I make that very clear. But my point remains that for Western Australia and for the Western Australians who are lucky enough to live there, the soil under their feet—and under your thongs, Acting Deputy President Sterle—happens to contain some of the biggest mineral deposits in the world. It is just your luck that you happen to be born there and happen to be lucky enough to live there.

There are other parts of the country that do not have those natural advantages, and I would have thought it was perfectly natural that you would want to share those with the rest of the country. Perhaps you were a young Liberal, Senator Smith, and we all know what they say about young Liberals: the one thing that they have in common is that they learnt not to share. That is what they say about young Liberals, and perhaps Senator Smith has inherited such a trait. I am not saying that is the case, but it is possible. Federation is about sharing within our fantastic nation, supporting each other and giving each other a leg-up. On that note, I will get back to the bill. The Greens will not be supporting this bill today for the reasons I have outlined. We will look forward to further discussion during the committee stage on various amendments.