Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate agrees with Senator Rhiannon who was reported in the official notes of an October 2000 SEARCH Foundation seminar commemorating the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) as arguing 'that the Green's Party is closest to the best of the CPA's politics and methods'.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that notice of motion No. 637, standing in the name of Senator Bernardi, be agreed to.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Senate. The motion we have just dealt with is one aimed at a particular senator—in this case, Senator Rhiannon—and we are seeing a number of these motions which are aimed at the person rather than at a relevant contemporary debate. We do not resile from any of our backgrounds. If you want to discuss my Presbyterianism, I am happy to discuss it. If you want to discuss Senator Rhiannon's connections with communists past, she is happy to discuss that. The motion seems to come from the first line of the first platform of the first Greens party in Australia, which is that of the Sydney Greens dated 15 October 1984 and says:

The Greens in Sydney come from many backgrounds. Environmental and resident activists. Nuclear disarmers. Dissidents from the Labor Party who have witnessed betrayals by both wings of that party. Feminists. Anarchists. Those inspired by the German Greens. Socialists of various kinds.

Senator Bernardi, who was just so recently wanting to help Islamophobic builders come from Holland to Australia, has little to talk about in these matters—

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. You ruled previously on the need for Senators to make a statement and not argue the point. I think Senator Brown should be observing your ruling. I think it should be brought to his attention that part of a statement is not just taking a spray at your colleagues.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Kroger. Senator Brown, before you continue, I advise you that you had sought leave to make a statement. Could you continue making a statement and not a debating point.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If Senator Kroger is not the point, I wonder what is.

To finalise that, the motion from the opposition is a bit cute coming from the strongest supporters in this chamber of the Communist Party of China, corrupted, which has got democrats, socialists and good heart­ed people breaking rocks in the Gobi Desert. They ought to look at their own record.

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I see no relevance to the motion that was before the chair. This is clearly not a statement, and I ask you to draw the senator's attention to that.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not a technical point of order. Senator Brown, you have 20 seconds left. I draw your attention to the fact that you had sought leave to make a statement and not to debate the matter.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point here is that I think the opposition ought to lift their game. The Australian people will want them to do that, and lift their sights. They want to debate the economy. Let's debate the economy instead of this very tawdry personal politics they are engaged in in this chamber. (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I recognise Senator Bernardi, I advise senators of the ruling of the Procedure Committee. It was adopted by the Senate chamber. It was the second report of 2011. In part it reads:

Standing order 66(3) provides that a formal motion shall be put and determined without amendment or debate ... In particular, the number of statements being made by leave in relation to complex motions leads to a de facto debate on those motions, contrary to standing order 66. This is because senators, instead of making statements, assert views in the nature of debate by mounting arguments and responding to positions expressed by others.

This was adopted by the Senate. It was adopted without debate or quarrel. I ask senators to observe the Procedure Committee report that was adopted.

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order going to the nature of the ruling that you make. I appreciate you reading out the report of the Procedure Committee. It is important for the Senate to understand that this relates to statements that are made at the time of discovery of formal business and when we are dealing with general business notices of motion. It has become the practice of the Senate for senators, either concerned about a motion or moving a motion, to seek leave to make a statement. The clarification of this relating to statements in the Senate in discovery of formal business is a critical element of the ruling that you made. Perhaps it ought to be reinforced for the benefit of senators.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a brief statement.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I feel I must briefly clarify for the benefit of the Senate that the purpose of this motion is simply to find a point of agreement between the Liberal coalition and the Greens party, who are in bed with the government. I find it difficult to be accused of petty personal politics when I am simply seeking to agree with some comments that Senator Lee Rhiannon had made. I find it appalling that Senator Bob Brown is prepared to have a go at me in this place when he has just voted against the sentiments of his own party. Indeed, Senator Rhiannon has voted against the sentiments that she shared with the SEARCH Foundation seminar some 10 years ago, when she was a member of the Greens party. This is factual. We are entitled to congratulate senators for belling the cat or telling the truth, and I have simply tried to do that.