Senator WILLIAMS (New South Wales) (16:16): I look forward to this MPI debate put forward by the Greens here: 'The Turnbull government's lack of courage on matters of importance to everyday Australians'. One of the tragedies we have just seen in many states is the fires through the summer in Western Australia and South Australia, where I grew up, from Pinery through to Mallala through to the Freeling area et cetera. Senator Di Natale talks about the fires in Tasmania. I have warned them; I have told them; I have moved motions in this place: when you lock up country and you leave it and you do not manage it, you are going to get savage fires. Look at Tasmania: six million hectares, 52 per cent, locked up. You are not allowed to graze it. No. Just let the fuel levels grow and grow. Once you get more than five to 10 tonnes a hectare, a 40-degree day and a 50-kilometre wind, you are out of control. It will happen in the red gum forests down in Deniliquin. There is nothing surer. They have now prevented grazing. They managed it for 100 years. The truth may affect some over there. They do not like it. If you lock up the country and you leave it and you will not reduce the fuel levels, that is what you are going to get. 'Oh no; we can't allow grazing. The cattle and sheep have got hard hooves on their feet.' It is all right to have the brumbies, the deer, the wild pigs, the goats—you name it. They do not run around in ugg boots, but it is all right for those to graze there. But do not control-graze the national parks. I would like to put a question to the Greens. How many of you have actually fought a bushfire? How many of you have been out there with a knapsack, with a shovel, on a fire truck? Put your hands up. Have you ever been to a fire? Thank you, Senator Lines; I was referring to the Greens. Mr Acting Deputy President Back, you and I have been to plenty. Good on you, Senator Siewert. But get out there amongst those savage fires and have a look at what they are doing. When fuel levels get up, the fires are that hot they get into the crowns of the trees and kill the trees. They travel so fast the animals have no time to escape. I am very pleased—I often put it on my Facebook—that there are koalas at our farm, in the front garden and down the creek, and they are safe. They will not burn, because we graze the country around and we keep the fuel levels down. They are protected. I have done my share of firefighting, especially when I lived in South Australia for the first 25 years of my life. Until you learn this, you are going to destroy the environment. You are going to lock up country and leave it. The National Parks Association are pursuing their agenda right around the nation: lock up more country and leave it; do not graze it; do not keep the fuel levels down. If there are not enough resources for hazard reduction burning, this is what you are going to get every seven, eight or 10 years: savage fires destroying the environment. One day, when it is all destroyed, you will learn and you will listen. Until you get on board with this, you are doing the wrong thing—100 per cent. Let us talk about marriage equality. Two men married will never be the same as a man and a woman. There will never be equality. They cannot have children, for a start, so they will never be equal. But what I really endorse is equal respect, equal rights— Senator Di Natale interjecting— Senator WILLIAMS: Get another tune. When we have the plebiscite, if it is voted down are you going to drop your agenda? No, you will not drop your agenda if it is voted down. Are you going to do what the people want if it is voted down? Of course you will not. You will pursue your issues. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Back ): Through the chair, Senator Williams. Senator WILLIAMS: My sincere apologies, Mr Acting Deputy President. Let me turn to the global warming debate. What do we produce—1.3 or 1.4 per cent of the world's emissions? It is quite amazing. China just did some figures. They made a mistake about the coal they burnt last year. They actually burnt 17 per cent more than they calculated for. The 17 per cent more they burnt—now they have done their figures again—put out more CO2 than the whole of Australia does in a year. That is just through their one error of burning more coal. China is actually a net exporter of coal, a lot of it of very poor quality, of course. But is bringing in a carbon tax, as we saw the Labor Party and the Greens do before, going to save our nation? We could shut down all emissions in Australia, but, unless the big emitters act, it is not going to make one ounce of difference. We do not have a tent over our country. We actually are linked to the globe. And yet you expect us to suffer all of the financial pain. That is what those opposite want to do going to the next election. They will bring back the emissions trading scheme, the carbon tax: 'We'll bill you like we did before, and we'll save the planet.' No. The emissions are going up. You need to get those big emitters to actually do their bit. I commend the Turnbull government for the way they have progressed trade agreements around the world—great for agriculture, great for regional and rural Australia. I put a question to Senator Sinodinos today about the some 180 countries that are now dropping their export subsidies. We have seen America for decades with their Export Enhancement Program. You would be well aware of it, Mr Acting Deputy President Back—how they are taking our wheat market. They are subsidising their product into markets that traditionally we would hold and taking away our markets. They are gone. What is happening with the free trade agreements? Our exports into South Korea are increasing enormously for wine, grapes, almonds and all sorts of nuts. Beef exports to Japan have gone up by 24 per cent in 12 months alone. And now we see record beef prices coming to people out there in the rural areas. I remember 15 years ago cattle hit $2 a kilo live weight. Eighteen months ago they were $1.60. Who else in Australia had a 40 per cent reduction in their wage from 15 years ago? No-one. But now we have got it right. Congratulations to the government, to Minister Barnaby Joyce and especially to Trade Minister Andrew Robb for the great work they have done. This is a farcical matter of public importance from the Greens. This is leading with their chin. I am sure more will have plenty to say. If we went down the Greens' road, we would just go broke and we would destroy the environment anyway.