Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Pursuant to contingent notice standing in the name of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, I move:

That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent further consideration of the bills until 6.30 pm.

In moving this motion, I think it's a great opportunity to continue to ventilate this dodgy deal that we've seen over here between Labor and the Greens, done in a smoke filled room in the ministerial wing of this building away from prying eyes, or maybe it was in the new sumptuous Greens party room down the corridor. We will never know, because these deals will never come out, but I think it is good to have this extended time for scrutiny. I now have realised why Labor and the Greens want to get out of this building tonight. The last speaker belled the cat on why. I now suspect that Senator Wong, Senator Gallagher and others are joining the Greens at this paddle-out in Newcastle. I did not know that the Labor Party were surfers as well, but they're going to go out, and they're going to blockade this coal port and prevent these important fossil fuels from getting in or out of our country and prevent the economy from functioning.

I think it is important that this sham process that these poor members of the Public Service have had to sit through—forced to sit here and watch the sausage being made. I'm sorry. I really am. There's no time for scrutiny, no proper accountability, no respect for this chamber of the parliament, no ability to answer basic questions and no respect for the people of Australia and the people of the forestry industry. We have established that here by the simple fact that the Australian Greens have celebrated this victory today. This deal done between Labor and the Greens is something that they've been wanting for a very long time because it brings about the death of the native forestry industry in Australia. They would not be voting for this if it didn't do that.

The ridiculous claims by the minister of, 'No, no. The Greens are voting for something that grows the forestry industry because of this growth fund of $300 million,' are madness. I can guarantee you that, when Senator McKim and Senator Whish-Wilson go back down to Tasmania, they're not going to be talking about forestry industry growth as a result of the deal done this week. They're going to be talking about the demise of this evil industry that's been propped up by the taxpayers for so long. So I tell you that this is why we need to get to the bottom of this dirty, dodgy deal that was done between Labor and the Greens to shut down these important industries and make it more difficult than ever before to do business in this country.

I feel most aggrieved at the way in which the Labor Party, along with their coalition partners in this new Labor-Greens alliance, have approached democracy and accountability. They shut it down. The point was made earlier on today that the one non-contro bill we had to debate in this place—was it an hour and a quarter or thereabouts of debate time for one non-contro bill? There are seven bills in this package, and, as was originally slated, that's about the amount of time we had to debate these bills in this place, bills that govern a public good, Australia's environment. It's something that belongs to everyone, not just the government and certainly not just the Greens—thank the good Lord; I can tell you. It's something that is an important driver for our economy and something that our future generations need to have a say over as well. They're going to need jobs. They're going to need places to live. They're going to need to be able to pay their power bills. But under this legislation, of course, there is a real concern that all of those things are going to be impossible. I really do worry about the short-sighted nature of this and the fact that we don't have any scrutiny available to do this.

So I am putting forward to this chamber—I suppose I'd better be relevant to the question before the chair, which is that we extend—that we need this extra hour and a half to interrogate this legislation. I'm sure that Senator Pocock, Senator Cadell, Senator Bell and Senator Barbara Pocock all have questions to ask this government that is so desperately wanting to get out of this place to join the paddle-out, to blockade the Newcastle port and to end fossil fuel exports, but honestly I'm just so disappointed. Maybe you could come down to Tasmania when the Senate rises, and we can look those forestry workers in the eyes and tell them what you've actually done. But, at the end of the day, it's not a surprise to us that of course this government has done this. They wanted to chalk up a win. They were happy to do a deal with anyone. It just so happens that the Australian Greens' price was—well, we don't actually know. Maybe I'll use the next hour and a half to ask about what that price was. I don't know how much bigger that sumptuous party room could be made, but maybe there's an ensuite being added on, an annex or a patio. I don't know. We'll see! Either way, it won't get through any EPBC laws—this government will have strangled any new development applications, and the party room will be no bigger. I commend this motion to extend the debate to the Senate.