Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Di Natale, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that, 10 years ago, the Australian people elected a Parliament where no single party had a majority;

(b) affirms that the 43rd Parliament was one of the most productive the country has seen, getting dental into Medicare for over 3 million children, making Parliament more democratic, including by creating the Parliamentary Budget Office, and being the only Parliament in recent history to meaningfully cut climate pollution; and

(c) congratulates former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, former Greens Leader Bob Brown and the independent Members of Parliament for agreeing to work together for the benefit of the Australian people.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government thanks Senator Di Natale for what may be his final formal business motion in the Senate and for his long contribution to this place, but notes the chaos and run-amok spending that were the hallmarks of the Gillard government and the 43rd Parliament. In concert with the Australian Greens, Labor in the 43rd Parliament introduced a job-destroying carbon tax and presided over a remarkably ineffective mining tax and a litany of other failures. The Gillard government saw broken promises, the only constant feature being that, while Labor were able to cling on to government, the Greens were the ones in power the whole time, and that, indeed, is a remarkable achievement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that motion No. 726 be agreed to.