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

I indicate that I'll speak for three minutes, and then Senator Thorpe would like the remainder of my time.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We actually have an extra minute, which I've been calculating.

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

Well, there you go!

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So Senator Thorpe can have an extra minute.

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

You get an extra minute. I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to environment laws.

I listened carefully to the responses to the questions that I asked Senator Wong today, and, despite my questions being clearly about Labor's promise to fix the country's broken environment laws and about the Prime Minister's attitude to the holes in the environment laws, Senator Wong couldn't even say the word 'environment' in her responses to my questions. It's so clear—it's becoming clearer and clearer—that this government has given up on the environment, on protecting nature and on doing what is right in terms of our climate. It's extremely disappointing, because here in this place we actually have a pathway through, between the Greens and the crossbench, to put in place environment laws that actually do something to protect nature and the climate.

Of course, the government are being extremely bullish in their attitude—their way or the highway. The Prime Minister told the chamber yesterday to get out of his way. He is trying to bulldoze his way through. It's not good enough just to have the bulldozers in our native forests or in Australia's most precious spots in nature; he wants to bulldoze his way through this chamber. He doesn't like that the government doesn't have the numbers. They have 25 votes out of 76 in this place. You actually have to work with others to get things done.

But what was most illuminating about this entire response from the Minister representing the Prime Minister is just how little they want to talk about the environment. They don't want to utter the word. They don't want the Australian people knowing that they've gone to water. They are more interested in going to have dinner with the BCA and the Minerals Council than they are in standing up for what they promised the Australian people: to fix the environment laws and to put in place stronger protections. They've gone to water. They're doing what Gina Rinehart wants, not what they promised the Australian people. Rather than rolling up their sleeves and working with the crossbench and the Greens to get something done, they're more interested in sitting down and breaking bread with the big mining industry and the big business lobby, and, of course, they're just poking fun at them.

Question agreed to.