Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I apologise to Senator Cameron with real deference. I have heard Senator Cameron at times say things that are different from the people in his own party. He has voiced them in the chamber and he has voiced them at the doors. He has not backed them up with a vote, but at least he has had the ticker to say them. So there is a sense within the Labor Party, and you can see it at times, that they will actually do what most rational human beings do: if they have a different point of view, they will actually say it. I have most certainly seen it on our own side. We treasure the liberty of the individual. We treasure the liberty of individual expression if it is required and—not often, but if it is really required—even in how you vote. It is part of why we sit on this side of the chamber. I would have to say that that is in the National Party probably more than anywhere else; it is just part of the culture of the show.

But I know one party here that does not. They always vote as a block. In the time I have been here, they have never split. We have never heard them say anything but the script. That is the Greens. They are a completely centralised, controlled unit. Maybe that is their cunning. Maybe that is how they got ahead. But it is not the expression of the liberty of the individual. I would ask all the people who get attracted to them in tertiary education: why? Why would you join a group which tells you how to think? Why would you join a group in which, manifestly, every word you utter has to go through a centrally controlled unit before you say it? If there is ever one party that should be a thousand miles away from the legal and cons committee it is the one with that attitude, that philosophy. That philosophy should be a thousand miles away. We believe in deference, in the removal and the separation of powers and in those who by their actions, displayed here and in other places, are truly independent.

I know somebody who is truly independent, who by their actions—and sometimes I have disagreed with him—has voted in accordance with his beliefs, and that is Senator Humphries. By his actions he is quite evidently a person who has the dignity of office to stand aside and say, 'I will be an independent arbiter in my deliberations as chair of this committee,' because that is who he is. He has displayed it; therefore, we can trust him with it. But the Greens have not shown anybody in their party who has had the capacity to do that. Therefore, one of the premier committees in this nation has now become a political football as part of this deal. It is quite evident, manifestly evident, in their actions that the Greens were most definitely not part of the opposition. You Greens might say you are not part of the government, but you are. But we can definitely prove by your actions—absolutely, categorically, without a shadow of a doubt—that 99.9 per cent of your votes are not with us, so you cannot possibly be part of the opposition. Therefore, if you follow Odgers, you cannot possibly have the chair, and if you understood Odgers or if you quoted it you would show some competency in it. But you do not even have it. You do not even know it. It has not got nothing to do with the process. This is a dirty little political deal that is completely removed from the reality.

Now Senator Brown is reading the paper. He is probably reading the form guide. What is the day that comes after the Melbourne Cup? It is the Oaks. He is probably looking up the Oaks. This is how bizarre it has become. We have the Leader of the Greens, who is now organising himself to take over the legal and cons committee, reclining in the chamber, ladies and gentlemen who are driving down the highways of Australia, reading the paper—made out of trees, I presume; but I do not know. I thought he would have an electronic form of it. But, no; he is going to read the stuff that they make out of trees—probably out of pulp and woodchips, to be honest. Where is the justification for this? You have not mounted an argument to show your independence. You have not mounted an argument that shows any understanding of Odgers and the position you are seeking. You have not been transparent in the deals that you have made with the Labor Party about why you should have this position. There has been no indication how the Greens candidate is comparable with or has more experience than the current chairman, who has served as Attorney-General and Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory and who by his own actions has shown that he has the courage and the conviction, though others might not agree with him, to cross the floor when he believes that is the right thing to do. You have displayed none of these things. You have taken the legal and constitutional committee and made it your pet project.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT : Senator Joyce, please address your remarks through the chair.

I am sorry, Mr Acting Deputy President. It is your pet project because the real motivation here is social re-engineering—and we are seeing more and more of it as you fall into this trap of hubris. You are in the spotlight because of the things you are doing to our country, whether it is introducing the carbon tax or closing down fishing, closing down mining or closing down the Murray-Darling Basin. If we pursue this nihilistic approach it will ultimately lead to the destruction of our nation. We will see destruction and bankruptcy and our nation in poverty if we pursue your course.

The goal that sits behind this is social re-engineering—the destruction of the person; basically taking the person to where they are the equivalent of animals: there are horses and bunnies and frogs and people, and they are all the same. Ultimately a person's rights will be similar to vegetation rights—trees and bushes and people will all be the same. We can see this re-engineering in the carbon tax—we take $56.9 billion a year and send it overseas. We do not just re-engineer Australia; we try to re-engineer the world. Everything is part of this nihilistic approach that takes away from the dignity of the individual, takes away from what we are. This totally serves your purpose.

This approach also indicates quite clearly that the term 'Greens' is a fraud. It inspires a faux nobility with an ulterior motive, which is the restructure of the social fabric of Australia, and other areas if possible, for your own purpose. It is social re-engineering with a suit and tie on—that is all it is. That is what the Greens do. It is done with totally selfish control and takes away any semblance of the right of the individual within the party structure. I cannot nominate one person in that party structure who I have ever heard make a statement on something that has not gone through their centrally controlled unit.