Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

If there is one thing that the coalition will never do, it is take lectures from the Australian Greens on the idea of what is good for investor certainty. What a preposterous idea. The Australian Greens, with their policies, would see vastly higher energy prices in Australia, vastly less agricultural activity and vastly lower reliability in terms of energy. The Australian Greens are one of the biggest threats to investor certainty in Australia. But, do you know what's worse? The reason the Greens are a threat is their alliance with the Australian Labor Party. If the Labor Party didn't insist, as they did when they were last in government, on doing deal after deal with the Australian Greens, then the Greens would be irrelevant. But, instead, the Australian Greens are the tail that wags the Australian Labor Party's dog. That is the threat. That is why Labor is so committed to higher taxes—they have to meet the Greens promises in terms of spending—