Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I warned you that you would need to keep an eye out. Senator Brandis is a manifestly inadequate Attorney-General because we are seeing the global surveillance industrial complex reeling under a steady drip of revelations as to its inner workings—and these won't stop; this is probably just the beginning. At last the truth is starting to come home here in Australia. The government's formidable foreign policy objective of alienating a different country every single day has been a profound success, with Timor-Leste most recently added to that list. Well done on that!

It has obviously made parliament a really interesting place in which to work. In the last sitting fortnight we have been able to block the reintroduction of temporary protection visas, have I think taken a big step towards rescuing university funding, have stepped up in defence of the Clean Energy Act and most recently the Climate Change Authority, have forced your spectacularly awkward backdown on schools funding—and I think most people are still trying to work out exactly what it is that you are up to—and have brought a measure of honesty and common sense to the national discussion about government debt.

It is said that calm seas do not make good sailors. I am very pleased to report to this chamber, on behalf of colleagues and friends back home, that there is a remarkable feeling of determination setting in within the Greens. We have had a big surge of new members and it has been a delight to see new energy come into our tough and resilient party. I am very proud of everything that we have achieved. I am a bit daunted by what is to come but confident that collectively we are up to it.

I farewell Felicity tonight, who has been working in my office for five years, effectively, since day one, and who is off to an extraordinary international adventure. Thanks, Flick, for everything that you have contributed to getting us this far. And I farewell Giovanni, who has left us and is also leaving our shores. I think it is good to get out of this place from time to time, because it reminds you when you get back what an extraordinary place this is. Thanks to both of you, for all your dedicated work in getting us to where we are today.

I particularly want to thank everyone who put their hand up to be a candidate in 2013, as you took your place to represent and advocate for our collective work. You made us proud, you made me proud and you made a difference. In whatever capacity you are out there working for a green future, either big 'G' or small 'g', make sure you rest up, take time out to appreciate everything that is good about our home state and try to unplug from the churn, at least for a brief spell. I am offering this advice freely and unsolicited to all my colleagues in this place. The work is relentless. We are away from home a lot of the time, away from family and away from friends. I hope everybody manages to get a good break and come back refreshed.

If you are listening to this and you think your vote does not matter, just consider for a moment the margin in the ballot in Western Australia, which is still up in the air. Tomorrow we will have a directions hearing in the High Court and we will see where that goes. Senator Pratt, who is here, is strung up in exactly the same awkward situation as I and a number of other candidates are. The margin swung between 14 votes or maybe 12 votes or possibly even one vote. If you are out there and you think your vote does not matter, bear that in mind for a second. Perhaps one individual said, 'I can't be stuffed; what on earth is the point?' That vote could have been the one that swung the outcome in a different direction and changed the balance of power in this chamber, in the Australian Senate. That is how powerful your individual vote is, whether you know it or not.

Having worked with people from Burma and Tibet and with Palestinian refugees, and having spent time in detention centres with people who have fled war, terror and totalitarianism overseas, I know that a vote is a precious thing. If all you do with your democracy is drop a piece of paper into a box every three years, then you are doing it wrong. Democracy is obviously about a lot more than that. But at the very least I would encourage people to take another look at the shenanigans and the goings-on in this place.

Mostly we are people of good heart. Most people who show up here—not necessarily in the Greens but in the major parties—take a big pay cut, and most people turn up here to serve, one way or another, our view of what the public and the national interest is. Sometimes it can all go wrong at an institutional level or once you scale up these collective endeavours, but nonetheless most people show up in here, I think, with goodwill and a willingness to serve. I have very much enjoyed my time here and look forward to many long years, with Senator Pratt and with others, as we bring the Green agenda forward.

Senate adjourned at 19:24