Senate debates

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Bills

Clean Energy Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Customs) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Excise) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Household Assistance Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Auctions) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Fixed Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge — General) Bill 2011, Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011, Climate Change Authority Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011; In Committee

6:41 pm

Photo of Lisa SinghLisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You have not shown any serious work so far. Those members opposite have not shown any serious work in relation to these bills.

Senator Heffernan interjecting—

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: Senator Singh, sit down for a moment. Senators shall not wander the chamber interjecting. Please desist or I shall have to evict you from the chamber.

I think the wandering of Senator Heffernan shows again that they are not on this planet when it comes to the issue of climate change and the bills before us. I want to address the fact that we are in committee. I have some understanding of this. Before my time in this place I was a minister in another place and I know what it is like to be in committee. That is where you actually debate the bills. It is where you debate the clauses within the bills. It is where you propose amendments. You look at the provisions of the bills and you scrutinise and go through those provisions. What have those opposite done so far? Absolutely none of that. You are lazy. You do not understand the bills in front of you because you do not believe in climate change to start with, except for Senator Cormann of course, who has backflipped all over the place—he did believe it then he did not believe it and so on. In fact, you have dumbed down this issue so much that your own leader, Tony Abbott, does not even understand the element of carbon. How did he refer to carbon dioxide? Invisible, odourless, weightless and tasteless. That shows you the degree to which the coalition understands the issue—

Opposition senators interjecting—

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