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

What a peculiar thing for someone to say. You have just brought in a bill. Do you not know about it? Of course carbon dioxide has weight. What an incredibly foolish interjection from somebody whose party has been prominent in bringing into our nation the most dangerous act in my time here. He asked: 'Isn't it weightless?' What a peculiar question. This is why what they are doing to our nation is so dangerous. As I said before, Julia Gillard is the Romulus Augustus of the Australian Labor Party. It is all over. It just goes to show that, when they want to, we can do things which are effective.

The other day they passed the most dangerous piece of legislation economically for our nation at this juncture of our history. What we see now coming from their alliance partner the Greens is a question as to whether carbon dioxide is weightless—a foolish thing to ask. And today they are thrilled to be on the front page of the paper saying they are ready for the next step. They have hardly taken a breath and they are ready for the next step. The next step, Australia, is to remove fossil fuels from our nation. When that happens, you will not have to worry about the Maritime Legislation Amendment Bill as far as Australian ships go. We will not have any Australian ships because we will not be allowed to have steel, we will not be allowed to have fuel and we will not have an economy.