Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

And I actually will take that interjection from Senator Thorpe. It was: 'They sold out.' Senator Thorpe and I may not agree on a range of issues; I will openly admit that here, and I don't think that would surprise many people. But, Senator Thorpe, on this occasion I stand shoulder to shoulder with you, because the Australian Greens political party have done what they do so often, and that is to sell out: 'Virtue, virtue, virtue, virtue;' sell out.

And there'll be good reason for it; don't worry. We'll hear the contributions soon, from the Australian Greens political party, about why they've sold out; why they spoke so strongly in the Senate committee hearing around this legislation; why it was bad; why the government was doing terrible things and was going to allow greenwashing. I wonder if those concerns around greenwashing exist today, or whether we are going to hear anything on them in the contributions from the Australian Greens political party. And I like saying 'Greens political party', because they are politicians who get elected to this place. They actually do things like hatch little deals with the Australian Labor Party to get legislation through, which, once upon a time—only less than a week ago—they were dead against. They are not beyond reproach. They are not the paragons of virtue they say they are. They are deal-makers. They'll do whatever they want, and they'll tell people out there in the community that they've done something good—something else. But if you go back and have a look at the history of this bill, if you go back and have a look at exactly what those opposite said was wrong with it—they had concerns about the lack of integrity in the process, concerns around greenwashing—no assurances have been given. As far as I can tell at this stage, debate already having commenced, there are no amendments from the government or the Greens, no assurances around integrity—probably not a concern to them—no assurances around offsets, some other nebulas deal we have no detail on at all and a committee process truncated by four months to rush this bill through. The Australian Greens political party—dealmakers extraordinaire—have done it again. As Senator Thorpe said, and I hope she says it several times in her contribution, they sold out. That is exactly what they have done and Australians need to know it. There will be less certainty than there was in the first draft of this bill. It is amendment city and it is going to be a disaster.