Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

At every opportunity the Australian Greens present themselves as more extreme, more anti-human, more antiscience, more anti-environment, more homophobic, more anti-Semitic, more anti-economy and antijobs. This motion proves the point. It is extreme. It is fringe dwelling. With this motion the Greens have taken a bridge too far. By coming into this chamber to tell untruths about our Great Barrier Reef being at risk they are trashing the reputation of our home state. I stand in this chamber to defend the reef. It is not in danger. It is healthy, it is stable and it is thriving. Data shows alkalinity, pH values, as randomly varying, naturally. The reef was bleached in 2008 during record cold temperatures and recovered entirely naturally. The Left perpetuates this misrepresentation of the reef, and these lies damage our economy, as tourist operators up and down the coast tell us that tourists think the reef is dead. The only risk to Queensland jobs is the Left.

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I say to the Greens: your motions actually damage our international reputation. The rot spoken through the Greens motions actually portrays to the world that the reef is damaged beyond repair or should not be visited. I beg the Greens, on behalf of Queenslanders, to stop trashing my home state's reputation.

Arrogantly, the Greens refuse to debate their views, instead they cast their crazy ideas as gospel. Senator Larissa Waters—a so-called Queensland senator—refuses to reply to any request to debate her party's wacky ideas and theories. Just yesterday, the science entertainer Doctor Karl Kruszelnicki refused to debate me on climate science, after a two-hour discussion. He originally agreed but then pulled out. The green movement know they are cornered. Their tricks have run dry. By refusing public discussions they have forfeited. They have lost the climate change debate.

The CSIRO, which disseminates clearly incorrect and fabricated information to journalists, still fails to correct gross errors it has released to the media, which I brought to their attention. The CSIRO refuses to turn up and be kept informed of any evidence that is contrary to the opinions it has formed about climate change. We need debate on the reef, debate on its health and debate on climate, because this science is not settled. We need not suppress opinions that are contrary to what a group of compromised climate academics have been sprouting. Senator Macdonald said we have never had a debate on climate science in this chamber until our party came along, and he is correct. Through debate real facts can be found.

One person who needs assistance with facts is the Greens MP Adam Bandt. He point blank misrepresented and misled Queenslanders in claiming that cyclone Debbie in North Queensland is the result of coal fired power stations. What a laugh. We have had our first death, unfortunately, from Cyclone Debbie. It was a tragic death, and Mr Bandt skips around parliament claiming—wait for it!—the cyclone has been caused by coal fired power stations. It is bizarre, cruel, heartless and dishonest. Who, Mr Bandt, caused the 1880s cyclones? I call out Mr Bandt for telling untruths in a time of tragedy. We Queenslanders always weather storms. We will weather this cyclone and we will do it without puerile lectures from the Greens about closing power stations.

Again, the Greens are seeking to advance their political agenda by damaging the economy of our home state. It is no secret that primary production, in particular mining, is key to our economy. We need coal, which poses no environmental threat, to keep the lights on, the factories working and people employed. Damaging our economy is keen, control-oriented, left-wing ideology. This is the real rift in the Labor Party—ideology. While at a federal level the Labor Party are cosying up to the Greens and are turning their policies decidedly more anti-coal, the reality is the Labor Party state division of Queensland is on a different hymn sheet.

Premier Palaszczuk is running around claiming she support the Adani mine, but at the same time she is desperate to strike a preference deal with the Greens Party. You cannot hunt with the hounds and run with the foxes, Premier Palaszczuk. Either you follow your manifesto and close down coal or you support coalmines and the jobs created. Through you, Mr Acting Deputy President Bernardi: Premier Palaszczuk, you are failing Queenslanders and your fate awaits you at the next state election.

It is Queenslanders who are being sold out by the deals that the Labor Party is creating with the Greens. If Premier Palaszczuk and Mr Shorten were to show they care one little bit about our state, they would place the Greens last on their how-to-vote cards. This motion is the very reason why the Greens must go last. We will call for a return to reality and truth. (Time expired)