Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

You did approach the government and they told you to get lost? I would have hoped that if you had approached them about that they may have taken some account of that particular argument you put. But the first part of your amendment completely destroys my faith, though limited and very temporary, in some serious proposal by the Australian Greens as to how to run this chamber. As to whether the carbon abolition package cannot get through before 1 July, I guess everyone is speculating. And, quite frankly, nobody knows how anyone is going to vote on various issues after 1 July.

I can guarantee one thing: I for one will be voting every way I can to get rid of that carbon tax, for two reasons: (1) I firmly believe that it is bad policy and (2) it is a breach of a commitment by the previous government not to introduce it. So the sooner that we can get that on the better. But, if it is just a question of giving you another five minutes to talk about the carbon tax, it really takes away from the sincerity that I thought you might have had in relation to family friendly sitting days.