Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak in favour of this disallowance motion and I do so on behalf of many of those who have taken the very difficult step to take on a corporation, a big bank, a big insurer or indeed their own government when they or their community have been wronged, often at the expense of their farms, their environment or their children's health. What we see today is just one step in the government's attack on justice and the participatory democracy that is so fundamental in this country. This is just one block in the wall that this government wants to put up between ordinary Australians being able to seek justice and the government being able to shelter and look after its big corporate mates.

We know that at the moment there are a number of class actions on foot, one of which is controversial in this place and relates to the management of water in the Murray-Darling Basin. We know there are a bunch of small farmers in the Riverina area who are desperately fighting for justice because of the incompetent mismanagement of water. While this class action is on foot, we've just a seen a report come out of New South Wales ICAC that shows that the injustices committed against everyday farmers like those in the Riverina did happen and were overseen by the New South Wales government and—lo and behold!—at this point nothing can happen. Those farmers, those who are fighting for their communities, deserve their day in court.

How do they afford to get their day in court? They do it by coming together and funding those costs collectively. This disallowance motion would make it nearly impossible for those communities to stand up for themselves, their environment, their farms and their future. We know that after the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria it took a class action to deliver real justice for those impacted. There is also another class action on foot and that is from a number of young people who are standing up for their right to a safe climate and a healthy environment, those who are taking class action to stop the Whitehaven Vickery coalmine. Those young people have a right to justice and a right to have their day in court. How do they do it if they don't come from rich families? They have to be able to rely on litigation funding.

It is absolutely crystal clear that this move by the government is designed to shut down ordinary Australians and to shut them out of the justice system and being able to participate in accessing redress. We know that this is an attack by the government that is just one part of the process, but, in doing so, the government is covering the backsides of big corporates, of the big banks, of big pharma, of the big insurance companies, of the big agriculture and irrigation corporations. Many of these corporations are foreign owned multinationals that come into people's communities, poison their water and rip up their land, and the communities are left with nothing, except when they decide to fight back.

That is what litigation funding allows. It's for everyday Australians who have been wronged so that they are able to take on the injustice they have suffered for themselves and for each other. It is a fundamental part of our system. To take this away is simply giving the green light to big, greedy corporations in this country to keep treating everyday Australians terribly, like mugs, while having absolutely no regard for the consequences of their actions. We know that often class actions that are brought forward are uncomfortable for the government of the day. These class actions could be taking on a government department, a government agency or a corporate mate of the government of the day. But a responsible or a representative government does not take away the right of their citizens to access justice and to have their arguments, their issues and their position heard in court. That is a fundamental part of the Australian democracy.

I said that these regulations are just one part of the government's attack on everyday Australians accessing justice and participating in our democracy. Next in line, of course, we have the government arguing to ban secondary boycotts, to ban the idea of the community and individual citizens coming together to make choices about where they want to spend their money. It is just not okay. This is an attack on democracy. It's an attack on access to justice and it is an attack on the freedom of Australians. It is not the type of position or ethos that should come from the conservatives in this place, for heaven's sake. But, when it comes to covering the backsides of their big corporate mates, they'll sweep aside the concerns of regular Australians and they'll chip, chip, chip away at these fundamental rights.

It's important for the Senate today to vote in support of this disallowance motion, to sweep away this attack and to send a clear message to those on the other side that we are not going to sit by and let everyday Australians be taken for granted just because the people abusing the land and their workers' rights and their freedoms happen to be cosy corporate mates—big agriculture, big pharma, the big banks and the big insurance companies. They're the ones who desperately want this motion to fail because they don't want to be held to account in court for their negligence, their misinformation and their disregard for the rights and freedoms of everyday people and for the environment. I urge the crossbench not to give big pharma, the big banks and the big irrigators a win today. Give everyday Australians and our community the assurance they need that, if something goes wrong, they can have their day in court and they don't have to be rich to access justice. They should be able to work together, fund together and make sure that they can access justice in a way that delivers the proper redress, if that is indeed what the court of the day decides.