Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. Dishonest political campaigns are the hallmark of the Greens political party and, lately, regrettably, the Labor Party and all of those in it. They are good at that, but they are not much good at the science of fisheries. This debate today is about how the Greens and the Labor Party deal with environmental matters. They are incompetent in making decisions.

I want to come back to the point I have just been making. On the wider issue of the management of the environment by the Greens and the Labor Party, can I simply refer the Senate to one of the most disgraceful acts I have ever seen in relation to the environment in recent times. A couple of days ago a deal was struck between Labor and the Greens to block the job-destroying green tape initiative, the one-stop-shop initiative, which, it was indicated, would get the nod by this parliament. But the Greens and the Labor Party went to the Palmer United Party and said, 'If you roll over on this one-stop-shop proposal for sensible environmental management, we will support the Palmer United Party on its disgraceful, dishonest and unconstitutional inquiry into the Queensland government.' There are no high principles involved here, just a matter of bribery using the environmental legislation to give Mr Palmer his opportunity for a vindictive, irrelevant, untruthful and unnecessary inquiry into another government in our nation. This demonstrates the point I have been making. When you leave it to Labor and the Greens to deal with environmental matters, they are not so interested in environmental matters and will trade those sorts of things and, more importantly, jobs—and I will come back to that—just so they can get Mr Palmer's support to stop this one-stop shop inquiry.

The one-stop shop, which was proposed by the Commonwealth government, was initially, I understand, supported by the Palmer United Party. I can well understand why Mr Palmer might have supported it. His Queensland nickel refinery in my home base city of Townsville has been held up in many of its instances for years by duplication of state and federal environmental legislation and by approvals processes and inquiry processes—so it was to be a good idea to have this one-stop shop. But one of Mr Palmer's goals in life is to take whatever political action he can against a government which refuses him what he wants. He thought he could buy any government and get them to do whatever he wanted, but the Queensland government said, 'We are an honest government and we will do this by the rules and we'll do it on the basis of what is right.' Mr Palmer did not like that, and so, since that time, he has conducted this vicious personal, political, dishonest campaign against Campbell Newman. And who is supporting it? The Labor Party and the Greens.

We all know that when Senator Milne was not here, the Greens decided, quite properly, to have an inquiry into the previous Labor government—who, I might say, Senator Whish-Wilson, actually introduced the coal seam gas legislation in Queensland that you are so concerned about. But are we looking at the government that introduced the coal seam gas activities in Queensland? No, of course not, because it is a Labor government—it is a left wing government. It is the sort of thing Senator Whish-Wilson froths at the mouth about when he thinks about another Labor government.

Most people these days understand the absolute dishonesty of the Greens, but for once I thought the Greens had done the right thing. It happened to be a time when their leader, Senator Milne, was—regrettably for her from her personal point of view—not in the chamber. Without their leader, the Greens made a decision that, 'If we are going to have an inquiry into this Queensland government, we will include the previous Queensland government'—the Labor one; the one that actually introduced the coal seam gas legislation which Senator Whish-Wilson is now 'so' concerned about. But did the Greens political party support it when it came up the second time? Oh, no, they had done a deal—because they do not like this one-stop shop. They want to put everything in their power in the way of Australian industry and, more importantly, Australian jobs.