Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

It is unusual for me but I must say I am almost speechless having heard the contributions from Senator Furner and Senator Brown. Senator Furner was talking about people being disingenuous; this comes from a member of a party whose leader one day before the last election put her hand on her heart and said, 'There shall be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' That is not disingenuous; it is an outright lie. If that is not a lie, I do not know what is. Listening to Senator Furner lecture people about disingenuousness is making me almost speechless.

On the same note, we had the leader of the government, Senator Bob Brown, lecturing us on abiding by the rules in debate. Those of us with long memories remember how he used to regularly disobey police instructions, and disobey traffic rules—I think at one stage he was in trouble with the police for breaking the rules—and here he is in this chamber lecturing us about following the rules. As my colleague Senator Cash pointed out, he deliberately thumbs his nose at the standing orders of this chamber which say he must acknowledge the President, as we all do. Sometimes we forget. Senator Brown deliberately thumbed his nose at those rules, and at you, I might say, Mr Acting Deputy President, in his demeanour and his absolute contempt of this parliament, of this chamber and, indeed, of Australian democracy. For Senator Bob Brown to start lecturing us about abiding by the rules is just, again, almost making me speechless. I cannot wait for the time when Senator Rhiannon is head of the Greens. If I had a vote, Senator Rhiannon, I would be voting for you. I do not agree with you on much of what you do but I know that you are steadfast, that you do not involve yourself in hypocrisy as, some might say, your current leader does. I emphasise that even when it was drawn to Senator Bob Brown's attention that he should acknowledge the chair, he then deliberately got up, walked out and ignored the rules. For him to be lecturing anyone about following the rules is just mind-boggling. As I said, it almost leaves me speechless.

I wanted to participate in the debate. I have been sitting here listening to all of the contributions, because I wanted to find out from the Labor Party speakers what was in the carbon tax package that is going to be released, apparently on Sunday, with great fanfare. I had hoped that the Australian Labor Party speakers could tell us, because I know the other speaker this morning, Senator Bob Brown, knows exactly what is in the package. Yet Senator Furner does not. Senator Cameron, a very prominent member of the Australian Labor Party and of this chamber, does not know what is in it. But Senator Bob Brown does. And Senator Milne. Do you know what? Perhaps I do not have to tell you this, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. Australian Labor Party members of parliament are going to be hooked up to a telephone call on Sunday to be told by their 'trusting leader' what is in the package. By the time that the Labor Party MPs are told what is in the package, the Greens will have already been briefed. As I said, I know Senator Bob Brown knows what is in it and, from some injudicious media comments that I heard today from other members of the Greens, I suspect that Senator Bob Brown has not kept the confidence—I only suspect that. But the poor old Labor Party, the lobotomised zombies—they do not know. They have not got a clue what is in it. They have been drip-fed on the good bits and drip-fed to leak out the goodish parts, the parts where you tax people and then compensate them by giving them their money back. Great economics! So typical of the Labor Party. That is all they know. They know as much as we do. When Senator Cameron spoke in this debate, I listened to his every word. I was just waiting for him to get off the politics and the personal abuse and actually tell us what was in the carbon package, but we did not get that, because, frankly, Senator Cameron does not know. It amazes me that the Greens know every detail chapter and verse, but Senator Furner and Senator Cameron do not. Here is Senator Bob Brown back in the chamber, again acknowledging the chair, in accordance with the standing orders. He is deliberately flouting the rules of this chamber, as he has deliberately flouted the rules of the land over the years, and then he has the hide to lecture us about abiding by the rules—an action that could only be described as hypocrisy.

Regrettably, Senator Furner and Senator Cameron do not know; none of the Labor speakers know. Perhaps I could ask Senator McEwen or Senator Carol Brown. Perhaps they could tell us. But I know they cannot tell us, because they do not know either. Senator Bob Brown knows, but the Labor Party does not. Who is running this gover­ment? I do not need to tell you who is running this government. It is the Greens, led by a man—Senator Bob Brown—who deliberately flouts the rules of this chamber and, as we have seen from his history, civil law on occasion as well.

In these contributions from the Greens-Labor alliance members I did hear them say that everybody wants a carbon tax. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps all the opinion polls are wrong. Let me give them the benefit of the doubt. Let me take Senator Bob Brown's word. It will be the only time in history I have ever done that, but just as an exercise, let us take his word. If he is so confident that the people of Australia want a carbon tax, then let us have a plebiscite. What could be fairer than that? What is wrong with that? Why would you not ask the Australian people what they want? Mr Abbott has said, very publicly and very directly, that he will abide by the results of the plebiscite.