Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—There were two motions made pursuant to standing order 164. I am advised that Senator Carr has been in contact with the Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism’s office in relation to the order seeking the tabling of a document which is described in the order. The order was made yesterday afternoon seeking the tabling of the document at 4 pm today. The government is considering its response to this order and will provide that response to the Senate on the next day of sitting.

Secondly, I can advise that I have been in contact with the Minister for Finance and Deregulation’s office in relation to the order seeking the tabling of the strategic review of the Australian government’s climate change programs. The government is considering its response to the order which was made yesterday afternoon seeking the tabling of the document at 4 pm today. The government’s response to the order will be made on the next sitting day.

As both orders relate to climate change related matters, I will take this opportunity to draw the Senate’s attention to the very real issues and the serious situation Australia faces as a consequence of climate change. The government through the Prime Minister and through Senator Wong, the Minister for Climate Change and Water, have been dealing with this issue very comprehensively. Whether it is signing Kyoto or through a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the Rudd government is preparing Australia for the challenges of the future by tackling climate change and securing our water supplies. Australians know that acting now on climate change is the responsible thing to do. The government is committed to helping Australian families take practical action in their homes to reduce energy use, save on energy bills and make a real contribution to tackling climate change.

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I find this situation completely unacceptable. The Senate made an agreement and passed a motion yesterday that two documents be laid on the table of the Senate by 4 o’clock today. The Wilkins review is in their hands. It is not as if you have to go and find it somewhere, it is 10 years old or it is not available. It is available. It is on a minister’s desk right now. I am asking that it be put in the hands of the parliament—not just the government but the parliament. I do not accept an explanation that just simply says, ‘We will go away.’ Today is when we asked for that report. It is available. The government is now saying that it is considering its position and will come back the next time we sit. We asked for the Wilkins review and we asked for it today and, frankly, I think it is a contempt of the Senate to refuse to release a document that is easily sought. I would understand this if it were going to take a long time to go back to archives and find something I was asking for. But I could walk down to that minister’s desk and get it myself now. It is not difficult. It is a political decision to defy the Senate.

The second document is one that relates to Minister Ferguson, who is undermining the government’s so-called position on emissions trading by circulating a document to members of the Business Council of Australia before a roundtable. It has gone out to business leaders and was circulated to a roundtable. It was putting a softer position than that advocated by the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong. Obviously Senator Wong was not invited to that particular roundtable and I wanted to know—and I asked—whether Senator Wong had actually seen the proposition that Minister Ferguson was circulating to the coal industry and the big polluters. If the business community of Australia has got this document, then why can’t the parliament of Australia see this document? Why is it that the business leaders of Australia take greater precedence when it comes to the government and consultations on an emissions trading system than the community?

I rang the minister’s office and asked for the document on the day that it was reported. This is not as if it is the first time that they have known about it. I asked for that document and it was not forthcoming from Minister Ferguson. It has not been forthcoming from anyone else. Again, it is around there in Minister Ferguson’s computer bank in the office. They just had to print it off and bring it around here.

So this is not difficult. Both documents are clearly identified. There was a time frame at least long enough for them to get the documents here. The decision not to table them is, in my view, a contempt of the Senate. I just want to put on notice to the Senate that that is the Greens view of it and when the government comes back in a week or so with its reasons why it will withhold the documents—and I have no illusion about the fact that both documents will not turn up here in this chamber—we will go into a full-scale debate, noting the fact that the government is defying the will of the parliament. The numbers here in the Senate said, ‘Release those documents,’ and I really believe that the people of Australia through their elected representatives and through their parliament deserve to have them, and I will be moving to that effect constantly.