Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very peculiar day, when we find that the Greens are apparently part of the opposition. I refer to page 373 of Odgers:

Under standing order 25 the chairs of the legislative and general purpose standing committees must be chosen from the government party members, and the deputy chairs from the non-government members. For procedures for electing chairs and deputy chairs, see below …

It further states that each legislation committee shall elect as its chair a member nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate and, as the deputy chair, a member nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. Each references committee shall elect as its chair a member nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or a member of a minority group in the Senate and, as its deputy chair, a member nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate. The Leader of the Government in the Senate is now nominating someone from the Greens.

It is an interesting start for a person on the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee when they do not even know their own Odgers. It is a very interesting position to kick off from, which goes to show, more than anything else, why they are not fit for the position. Let us go through and see how much role they have had with us. I have got a list of votes by the opposition—that is us; apparently it is you now as well, if we believe you—and the Greens. I can go to each one from 4 July. What we are looking for is when I say 'yes, yes' or 'no, no'. In seriatim, this is how we voted: no, yes; no, no. That is one, but the government did not support it either. Then yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; no, yes; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; yes, no; no, yes; yes, no; no, yes; yes, no; no, yes; no, yes; yes, no; no, yes; yes, no; no, yes—I will not bore you, but you get the idea. We do not generally agree—in fact, never, except for one where the two genuine Independents had a different position. These are the people now coming in here, after reading what it says in Odgers, and saying they are part of our crew. I should have invited them to the Christmas party! I did not know they were part of the team.

This is absolutely amazing. It shows how absolutely fraudulent the Greens have become, in everything they do. You watch, later on: they will support the guillotine. They are the party that now do not give leave. This is the worst part, and it will stick with you. They are the party that did not support an inquiry into the rape of Annette Harding. That is the one that really irks me. She is an Aboriginal girl and you decided that you were not going to support an inquiry into this. Why you did that, I do not know. It was that day, at that moment, that I just lost you. I just could not work out where you were going.