Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Senate will now consider the proposal from Senator McKim:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That the election of President Trump is a threat to Australia and the world, including his attacks on human rights, democracy and climate action; that the toxic influence of billionaires and corporations in political decision making must end; and that we must do everything we can to stop Trump-style politics coming to Australia."

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator McKim, I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That the election of President Trump is a threat to Australia and the world, including his attacks on human rights, democracy and climate action, that the toxic influence of billionaires and corporations in political decision making must end, and that we must do everything we can to stop Trump-style politics coming to Australia.

When governments serve the interests of billionaires and corporations, when those elected to positions of power spread hate and play on fear, when so many in a community struggle so hard to access health care, when the cost of groceries is so high and when it is so difficult to find a safe roof over your head to call home, the conditions are created where individuals can come to power willing to do and say things that have not been done before and willing to take those pieces of hate-filled rhetoric spoken in quiet spaces where nobody thinks anyone will ever find out and turn them into action.

We observe in the election of Donald Trump one such individual taking office again in the United States, and so many in our community are so worried by that, because our government—this Labor government—has decided to continue with the Liberal policy of closely binding us to the United States through the AUKUS agreement.

Many in our community do not want to see our foreign policy set by Donald Trump. They do not want to see Australian men and women potentially put in harm's way to serve in a war that that man might start. Many here in our community are wondering how we ensure that such an individual is never able to take power here in Australia.

The answer—the action—that is being demanded of this parliament at this moment is that we address these causes and take bold action to ensure that people can get the health care they need, affordably access the food they need, and have a house—a home—to call their own; that people in this place call out hatred and those who play on fear each and every time; and that no man in a position of power is ever allowed to get away with speaking about a woman in the way that Donald Trump has been able to in past generations. (Time expired)

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion from the Australian Greens and highlight that President Trump has been elected as the 47th President of the United States by a functioning system of democracy. It is different to ours, granted, but it has checks and balances that keep executive power in check. At the end of the day, it is the choice of the American people as to who they wish to be their president.

The Greens have just said that he will say things that have never been said before. I noticed that a lot of people gave him grief about his comments on America wanting to buy Greenland, as though he'd somehow gone off the reservation. If you look at history, there have actually been negotiations before between Denmark and the US about Greenland, and they actually agreed a price. The US Congress opted not to pay the money, so it didn't go through, but he is hardly the first person to talk about this issue.

What is important to remember is that the US has overwhelmingly, under whomever has become the president, been a force for good in the world, and that is to Australia's benefit. We benefit from the rules based order. We benefit from the influence of the people of the United States, through our security relationships, economically and in the people-to-people links.

If the Greens want to look overseas and be critical—and here they have said that President Trump is a threat to Australia and the world because of his actions on things like human rights et cetera—they could at least be consistent. I note that on Insiders, on the ABC, the Deputy Leader of the Greens refused to say whether Hamas should be disbanded. Given that Gaza has not been a democracy for a long time now, and they're a terrorist group with an awful track record on human rights, you'd think that the Greens could at least be consistent.

If they want to look overseas in a more positive sense, perhaps they could look at Finland, where Tea Tormanen, of the Greens party in Finland, led the movement to preference science, engineering and economics over ideology when she moved her party to support the introduction of nuclear power in Finland. What was the result? Finland now generates power that is 98 per cent emissions free, and its power prices have dropped to the equivalent of A$0.12 per kilowatt hour, compared with my home state of South Australia, where we pay 45c per kilowatt hour and sometimes even higher.

If President Trump is such a danger to the world, why do his policies agree with those of the Greens in Finland and President Biden, his Democratic predecessor? Both are supporters of nuclear power because it provides lower cost, lower emissions and more reliable power. And that's not just the executive order signed by President Trump or the IR Act passed by President Biden. If you look at groups like the OECD, the IEA, engineers and economists, such as economists at Frontier Economics, the studies and modelling from these independent expert bodies highlight that, unlike the ideology of the Greens and Labor, which is driving up the cost of living and the cost of power here in Australia, the decision to consider the science, the engineering and the economics will put a nation on a trajectory to lower power costs.

If you are questioning whether we have a problem, just read the reports today from Independent Food Distributors Australia, who highlighted that under the approach the Greens and Labor have taken, ideologically driven, the Godden Food Group, for example, as their power contract expired, faced an increase of 238 per cent to renew it. So, Australians should be asking, in the next month or two, whether they are better off now than they were 2½ years ago. Do they want more of the same? Do they want to see an alliance between the Greens, ideologically driven, and Labor? Or do they want to see economics, engineering and science underpinning a policy that has been proven globally to drive down the cost of electricity, which will drive down the cost of living? If they want the latter, they need to vote for the coalition, who will get Australia back on track.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak very briefly on the urgency motion moved by Senator McKim here today. And well, well, well: 2025 has started, and the Greens are already up to their old tricks again. It is so typical to see this type of juvenile behaviour occurring, when we started on a positive note earlier today here in Canberra. The types of motions that we typically see from some of the crossbench really are disappointing—to waste the Senate's time debating these types of motions. But here we are.

What we saw in the United States in the presidential election last November was the very essence of the democracies that we all take for granted and are very proud of around the world. We must respect the democratic processes and outcomes that took place in the United States. These democratic values that we share form the very basis of the very strong relationship Australia has with the United States—that is, adhering to the rule of law and respecting those fundamental freedoms and free and fair elections, regardless of the result. The American people have spoken, and we must respect their right to determine their own future for themselves, just as the Australian people will at our own federal election this year. Regardless of the results, we will have fair and free elections, and, if need be, there will be an orderly transition of power. That is the best way we can conduct any democracy.

It's also fair to say that President Trump is like no other president we've seen before. From what we saw when he was last in the Oval Office and from what we will see over the next four years, it's fair to say that his approach is always not very conventional. Having said that, we need to respect the outcome of the election last year. President Trump has also made it very clear that he's going to do things very differently. We shouldn't be surprised as he implements his 'America first' agenda.

As two nations, the United States and Australia have so much in common. But we are also two very different sovereign independent nations with our own ways of how we conduct business. Just as we respect the rights of American citizens to determine their own future, we have those same rights here in Australia. Equally, as Australians we are confident in our values, in our place in the world and in our ability to deliver on our national interests. So, contrary to what the Australian Greens are arguing in the motion, it's not all doom and gloom.

My message to everyone, particularly those on the crossbench, is to keep calm and carry on. If anything, we should be more concerned about some of the rhetoric that is occurring from the crossbench and from the Greens. Words and actions do matter in this place, and, unfortunately, what we have seen over the course of the last 18 to 24 months is quite alarming, particularly around issues of antisemitism and other issues affecting our community right now, causing instability in social cohesion. We've debated and discussed how important it is to make sure that we continue to embrace and invest in our very proud multicultural and diverse community here in Australia.

It is also interesting to see that the Australian Greens, despite the motion before us, have a track record on foreign affairs and defence which I think is quite alarming. They have consistently used divisive tactics to get a message across solely for short-term political gain. They want to slash defence spending and withdraw from the AUKUS trilateral security partnership, which is much more than just submarines; it is about industry and jobs and manufacturing. It's also about investments in critical minerals, which will help us get to net zero, and I think that is a real positive for this country.

The Greens have always believed that we should have no relationship with the US. If it were up to them, Australia would cut ties with most of the world. Our relationship with the US is fundamentally important, and we'll continue to strengthen this alliance. It is one that is based on enduring friendship and shared values. In fact, Australia was one of the very small number of countries to receive an invitation to the recent inauguration, and that is a true demonstration of our alliance. We'll also work cooperatively with the US and the administration regardless of who that might be, as America's success is our success, and I know that Australia looks forward to working with the Trump administration over the next four years to advance our country's interests and to deliver prosperity and security for all in the region. (Time expired)

Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How infected by Trump derangement syndrome must some in this place be when they want to spend valuable time not debating the important issues but arguing that a democratically elected president is a danger to Australia and to the world. Well, let's have the argument.

President Trump has insisted that there are only two genders—male and female. Well, he's right. Is this a threat to the cosmos, or is this basic common sense affirmed by biology? President Trump has insisted that sovereign nations must secure their borders. Is this a threat to the free world? If I were to visit any of the homes of the woke Left of this country tonight, would I find their front doors wide open so anyone can come through? Of course not. They double-lock their front doors while bleating on about secure national borders being immoral.

What has President Trump done? He's promised to crack down on government waste. Imagine a world where faceless, nameless bureaucrats are held accountable! 'But President Trump is a danger to the free world,' they will still screech. Is ending the Left's obsession with DEI in the military a danger? I would have thought that prioritising niche sexual fetishes in the military over strength and competence would have been considered the real danger.

The Left's hysterics over President Trump only demonstrate how dangerous the Left really are to the world and to democracy. They complain about President Trump being a populist. What's wrong with that? What is populism? It's doing what the majority of people want you to do; that's populism. When the Left complain that Trump is a populist, they're really just admitting that their own policies and their own ideas are so extreme and so nonsensical that nobody wants them. Then they claim that their lack of popularity is a virtue somehow. It would be hilarious if it weren't so silly.

Donald Trump is not a threat to Australia—he's not. He's only a threat to the progressive Left in Australia and all across the world. Those people are trashing this great country and their own, wherever they might be, with their extreme ideas that nobody wants, nobody believes and nobody can afford. Do you know what Donald Trump is? He's exactly what the world needs; that's what he is.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The election of Donald Trump last year struck fear into the hearts of millions in the US and across the world—particularly people of colour, women, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people and those who care about our climate. This fear was justified. On just his first day in office, he exited the US from the Paris climate treaty, repealed measures that supported racial equity and that addressed discrimination against trans and intersex people, issued orders to increase deportations, expanded the death penalty, removed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers and so much more. Every one of these actions was catastrophic.

This is a man who is deeply unfit for any public office, let alone the most powerful one. This is a man who belongs not in the oval office but behind bars. For Trump, every tragedy is turned into a new front in a culture war. Every calamity is an opportunity to play politics and attack marginalised communities. We saw that with his despicable response to the recent plane crash in Washington, which he baselessly blamed on the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity push and hiring of air traffic controllers with a disability. How utterly contemptible to attack a community that is already underrepresented in the workforce and discriminated against!

Trump's actions have legitimised and emboldened racist, ableist, homophobic filth everywhere. Immigrants, trans people and other minorities have been less safe since Trump came to power. We must do everything we can to keep Trumpian hate, science denial and billionaire-loving politics out of this country.

The most urgent task in that regard is to keep Dutton's mini-Trump Liberals out at this election. Disturbingly, Dutton has already started mirroring the culture warfare with his recent attacks on the Public Service's culture, diversity and inclusion workforce. Another urgent task is to fearlessly call out Trump's dangerous agenda, but so far only the Greens have had the courage to do that in here. The Albanese government must stand up to the US empire, rip up the cooked AUKUS deal and condemn Trump's policies in the harshest terms possible. That's what needs to be done.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you can't see the slide into fascism that's currently happening in the United States, you are simply not paying attention. At Donald Trump's inauguration, as the billionaire oligarchs lined up to pay their obeisance, the biggest of them all with the highest profile of them all, Elon Musk—the person with probably the biggest social media reach in the world, in part because he owns one of the biggest social media platforms in the world—literally gave a Nazi salute. For people who are going to try to argue that it wasn't actually a Nazi salute, I'll say this: if you're one of the highest-profile people in the world and a massive global debate erupts about whether or not you gave a Nazi salute and you don't come out and say, 'It wasn't a Nazi salute,' then it was a Nazi salute.

The United States is sliding into fascism under Donald Trump, and it is marginalised communities who are going to pay the price: black skinned and brown skinned people, migrants in the US, women in the US, and transgender and queer folks in the US. They're going to be persecuted, demonised and blamed for all the problems of the day. And do you know what else is going to pay the price? Nature is going to pay the price under his 'drill, baby, drill' policies of destroying nature. The climate is going to pay the price, as we're already seeing a withdrawal from global climate action. President Trump is a disaster for humanity. He belongs behind bars, not in the Oval Office.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was fortunate enough to spend some time in the States back in the 1990s, when I did a shared service implementation down in Sarasota in the great state of Florida. I was invited to go fishing one afternoon with the husband of one of the female staff who worked for me at the time. His name was Woody, and he had a mullet down to his shoulders. He had a big mo, and he drove an F-150. I said to Woody: 'What's the go with guns in this place? Why are you guys so mad about guns?' He just came back at me with one line straight off the tip of his tongue. He said, 'We don't trust the government.' I often reflect on that statement, because back in the 1990s the biggest political scandal in the US was Bill Clinton engaging in improper sexual relations with a female half his age, and somehow I don't recall the Left having too much of an issue with that.

That spirit of Woody reflects the spirit of the American Revolution in 1776, and that spirit is very important because it was the manifestation of the European Enlightenment, the ideal that power will no longer belong to those above us but will come from the grassroots movement. That's what the American Revolution was all about in 1776, when they sought to overthrow the tyranny of the Currency Act of 1763, where the British and King George III stopped the American colonies from printing their own currency. There was also, of course, the principle of no taxation without representation, with the Boston Tea Party.

It's very important to understand that what Trump represents, regardless of whether or not you like the person, is the fact that people wanted to drain the swamp. They are sick and tired of the deep state. The great American people are sick and tired of seeing billions of dollars get wasted on foreign wars and on protecting other countries and not their own. So I welcome Donald Trump and wish him all the best.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The US election was scarier than previous ones. Why? Because both major parties here in Australia have handcuffed our country's sovereignty to a bunch of white elephant nuclear submarines to the tune of $368 billion. We have to accept the result of the American election, but we have a responsibility in this place to protect our democracy from oligarchy, billionaires and climate deniers.

Right now, a disinformation machine with close ties to the Liberal Party is throwing millions of dollars at a campaign to fight the Greens. Advance is using the same divisive language and campaign strategies as the Trump campaign. This Liberal Party aligned group wants to pit groups within our community against one another and keep us distracted from prospective prime minister Dutton's real agenda.

Why is Advance attacking the Greens? Because we threaten the profits of the big fossil fuel corporations who are their corporate mates and donors. Why would a fossil fuel backed lobby group attack the Labor Party? They've approved 32 new coal and gas projects. The fossil fuel sector isn't going to attack the Labor Party; they just tap on the minister's shoulder and—oops!—there go the nature positive laws. We know things would be worse under Dutton, but emissions have risen under Labor, and that will be the unforgivable legacy of this government.

The Greens in this place have a job, and the people at the ballot box have a job too. Our job is to push one of these sad, old, dying major parties to cancel AUKUS. Trump is a danger to democracy, and we can't keep contracting out our foreign policy to the US. The job of those at the ballot box is to keep Temu Trump out of office and to vote for protecting the environment, for real cost-of-living relief, for taxing the corporations to fund full dental into Medicare and for the things that genuinely improve people's lives. Bring on the election!

Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, Senator Cash told us that Peter Dutton will take 'exactly the same attitude as President Trump' if he gets to be PM. What a chilling prospect. Donald Trump has appointed Nazi-saluting billionaire Elon Musk to take a hatchet to public services. He started by shutting down, with immediate effect, the US agency for international aid. I've had development experts in my office today telling me that this means kids in Timor aren't getting breakfast and women across the Pacific have lost access to reproductive health care. That's Trump, that's DOGE and that's Musk at work.

What does a Dutton government offer? The same attitude and 36,000 jobs gone out of the public sector. But he doesn't say who, he doesn't say what and he doesn't say that he will instead direct billions of public dollars in a massive stream of profits to his big corporate mates, the consultants and the labour-hire companies, at three times the cost, dripping with conflicts of interest. Instead of a climate department, we'll have the big four writing climate policy while servicing the world's biggest fossil fuel producers. We've already seen it—we spent two years criticising it in the Senate—and the coalition want to bring it back in Trump's image. To coalition cuts in Trump's image, we say no. There's no place for it. There's no place for giving public resources to the billionaires and the big corporations. (Time expired)

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The election of President Donald Trump was certified in every American state, by Democrats and Republicans alike and in Congress. The 2024 election was a textbook application of the United States' republic model of government. In his first two weeks, President Trump has secured the border against illegal arrivals, overnight adding Mexican and Canadian troops to police their side of the border and lifting threats of tariffs. President Trump has prevented the Chinese takeover of the strategic Panama Canal, and his team have made a huge stab at putting the cleaners through US government waste, some of which appears criminal and seditious in nature. President Trump has withdrawn the USA from the World Health Organization, from the World Economic Forum and from climate change tyranny and fraud. These are moves One Nation has advocated for 20 years. Executive orders have destroyed woke DEI and transgender ideology while reaffirming support for gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans. Again, this is One Nation policy.

President Trump is not a threat to democracy here or in the United States. He is a threat to the Greens, who are watching the pushback to their neo-Marxist identity politics. Their toxic ideology is rightly being dispatched to history's sewers. President Trump did not start the pushback against woke ideology; Australia did when everyday Australians rejected the Voice proposal, and the Irish did when they rejected the fragmentation of their families in a referendum there. President Donald Trump's actions are in accord with One Nation policies, and of that we are very, very proud. Trump puts America first; One Nation proudly puts Australia first.

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In just two weeks in power, Donald Trump has already threatened to invade Greenland and Panama, created a global trade war, celebrated and emboldened the far right, empowered billionaires and abolished US aid. Instead of distancing ourselves from the US, Labor and the coalition are in lockstep, trying to handcuff us to them. Donald Trump's bizarre threats to use military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland should have been a red line. Instead, when the Minister for Defence was asked if Australia would join an invasion, he said he looked forward to working with the US. He congratulated Trump and he waffled. He couldn't bring himself to say, 'We would never join a US invasion of Panama or Greenland.' So, if Canada keeps pushing back on Trump's tariffs, will we join the US in invading them too? Surely, saying we won't join the US in its next illegal war is the bare minimum we can expect from this government.

After following the US into Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, this lot can't even rule out an invasion of Greenland. Instead, the Albanese government wants to be Trump's little loyal puppy, because they want AUKUS; they want a handful of nuclear submarines. And they're even more desperate to avoid a fight with the coalition. It makes one thing very, very clear: AUKUS has nothing to do with keeping Australia safe and everything to do with being a loyal, unthinking servant of the United States.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Steele-John at the request of Senator McKim be agreed to.