Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I find myself agreeing with John Howard very often these days. First of all, he wanted a serious response to climate change, and then he was absolutely dismissive of the idea of plebiscites. He said members of parliament were elected to make those decisions. He said that the Australian people expected members of parliament to make those decisions. So, again, I find myself wildly in support of former Prime Minister John Howard. He was serious about combating climate change, and he also knew that calling for a plebiscite when one could not win the argument in a serious debate was a sign of a political stunt, which disappeared by day's end. They were going to come in at 10 o'clock in the morning yesterday, you will recall, and move bills on both sides of parliament. The only problem was parlia­ment did not start until 4.30! It was a cunning plan, Baldrick, but unfortunately the parliament did not start until six or seven hours later. This is the sort of leadership we get from the Liberal Party.