Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I am extremely disappointed by the tone of the contribution we just heard from Senator Steele-John. I'm extremely disappointed, but I'm not entirely surprised, because we are used to contributions like that from Senator Steele-John and his colleagues in the Greens party to take the opportunity in moments of national crisis for political pointscoring and using highly inflammatory language that does no credit to them or to anyone in this chamber.

We're pretty keen to get on with this debate, so I won't spend a lot of time on this, but for Senator Steele-John to refer to members of this chamber as arsonists, on the very day that we are told by fire chiefs that we are seeing conditions that this country has never seen before, is beyond offensive and beyond the pale. I would encourage Senator Steele-John and every member of the Greens to reflect on the way they are carrying on, the political pointscoring they are engaging in around bushfires and in referring to other members of this chamber as arsonists. I would never—