Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Hansard source

It seems that the mantra of the Greens party is 'never let a natural disaster go to waste'. While disaster footage beams into our living rooms on the 24/7 media cycle, they make sure that it comes with the general complaints of: 'See, I told you so! The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are imminent unless all you little people out there change your ways, repent and live a life of green virtue and subsistence.' In times gone by, it was the bloke with the sandwich board on the corner that was caricatured in all the movies saying, 'The end is nigh!' and it was because of his religious conviction. Now we've got a religious conviction of a different form, and it resides within the Greens. When hurricanes form or hit, they blame it on global warming. When bushfires strike, they blame it on global warming. When there's too little rain or snow, they blame it on global warming. When there's too much rain or snow, they blame it on global warming. But they won't explain why the Bureau of Meteorology makes temperature records disappear to suit the mantra that has been emanating from the politically correct for far too long. They have record hot, record cold, record dry, record wet—it doesn't matter, because it's all the responsibility of mankind.

The only real threat to Australia's plentiful natural resources is the Greens and their growing band of useful zealots. At every turn, they try to prevent us from digging up our vast coal, gas and uranium resources. When we're lucky enough to bring them to the surface, we're not allowed to use them in this country, according to the Greens; we have to send them off overseas for someone else to use. That only prevents us, including the elderly and the infirm, from using warmth in winter and accessing cool in summer.

The latest mad green changes, rushed through parliament yesterday with the assent of the few Libs and Nats who bothered to even know what they were voting on, will begin to phase out the engines we typically use to boat, to fish, to dirtbike, to mow or to blow leaves with. This is the green agenda coming to life in this place. These crazy, obsessive busybodies are a threat to not just our natural resources but, increasingly, our enjoyment and our way of life. There seems to be no stopping the madness and zealotry of this Greens ideology, which seems to harbour and incubate most effectively within five to 10 kilometres of our larger central business districts and, increasingly, in our school system. These are the real threats to our resources and our very existence. They should be ashamed of their misuse and abuse of natural disasters, which have a real and catastrophic effect on many individuals, for their base political games. This place deserves better. Australia deserves better.