Senator CAMERON (New South Wales) (16:44): I want to raise some issues different from those we have heard in this debate so far. Senator Day has raised a matter of public importance about extinguishing Senate diversity. I find it interesting that Senator Day would be talking about diversity when Senator Day trots around like a faithful puppy every time the Liberals call a vote. If you want to know where Senator Day is voting, you just have to look at where the Liberals are sitting. There is no diversity. Senator Day has been turned on by his so-called mates in the Liberal Party, and he is going to get kicked out after being such a sycophantic follower of the Liberal Party for the last couple of years. His sycophancy is being repaid with his getting kicked out early because of these changes arrived at behind the scenes by the Greens, by Senator Xenophon and by the Liberal Party. There is quite a strong case of hypocrisy with Senator Day. How must he be feeling when he wakes up every day knowing that his constant voting, following the Libs around every time, has meant absolutely nothing? Senator Rhiannon speaks about embarrassment and oblivion. I am not embarrassed to say that I do not mind a bit of diversity. I appreciate having people in here who understand the working class of this country, who have come from working class backgrounds—not like the coalition, who have never worked a hard day in their lives; they do not know what it is like to have to battle to put food on the table, do not know what it is like to have to battle to live day by day. The problem we have here goes even deeper than the stupidity of the Greens in doing this deal. If they were going to do a deal, at least the Greens could have tried to get something out of it. But they are the real mugs of this parliament—they never get anything for the deals that they do. They just roll over. They are even worse than the National Party. The Libs call them in, give them a cup of tea or a chardonnay, and they roll over—they say 'tickle my neck' and away they go. They get a tickle on the neck and that is it. They do a deal but they get nothing out of the deal. Surely if they were a progressive party they would be going after the rorts that have taken place under the donation laws in this country. They would be doing something about it. The Greens had an opportunity to do something now, and what did they do? They rolled over—they absolutely rolled over. They are the biggest mugs this parliament has ever seen in terms of carrying out negotiations. They rolled over on multinationals tax and they have now rolled over on this. A progressive party would at least have enough guts to stand up and get something out of the backroom deals they do. This is what we really need to be dealing with: we need to be dealing with the Liberal Party in New South Wales, who are getting handed brown paper bags with $10,000 in them in the front seat of a Bentley. What does that do for democracy in this country? We hear a lot about democracy but you will not hear the Liberals or the Greens in this debate talking about the rorts that are the real problem for democracy—the big business donations. The Greens had an opportunity this time round to stand up and say to the Liberals, if you want us to make changes then we want changes to the electoral laws in this country so that you cannot hide donations, so that you cannot get donations made nationally sent to New South Wales; you cannot get donations laundered federally to come back into New South Wales. We know what happened in ICAC with the Liberal Party; we know that four of their MPs in New South Wales had to resign because of the electoral deals they were doing. Senator Sinodinos was the chairman of Australian Water Holdings at the time they gave $180,000 to a company called Eight by Five. Senator Smith: Madam Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I think Senator Cameron might be at the bottom of the barrel of his arguments. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Lines ): That is a debating point, Senator Smith. Senator CAMERON: What a pathetic input that was. As soon as you mention the rorts that the Libs are involved in, they are out there defending the white shoe brigade that are funding them. That was absolutely pathetic, Senator Smith. You tell me why a company that could not pay their workers superannuation, with Senator Sinodinos in a senior position in the company, was giving $180,000 to Eight by Five— Senator Smith: Madam Acting Deputy President, on a further point of order: I think the standing orders make it very clear that relevance is an important element and Senator Cameron should get back to the topic of the motion. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I do believe Senator Cameron is being relevant. Senator CAMERON: Senator Smith, you are an absolutely pathetic joke. Senator Smith: Madam Acting Deputy President, even from Senator Cameron that was a very unnecessary contribution. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Cameron. Senator CAMERON: If you have such a glass chin you should not be in here. Eight by Five got about $400,000, and even Bill Heffernan did not know about it—and he was up there on the Central Coast of New South Wales looking at all these rorts going on. The Liberal Party is continuing the rorts. The Greens made a deal with them, and they say they stand up against rorts but what did they do? Absolutely nothing. They did nothing. Again they rolled over. Senator Rhiannon: Madam Acting Deputy President, on a point of order: for consistency, could Senator Cameron tell us about the rorts— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Rhiannon, that is a debating point. Senator Rhiannon: There were the appearances— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Rhiannon, do not dissent from the chair. Resume your seat. That is a debating point. Senator CAMERON: So the Greens have been arguing about backroom deals, and they did the backroom deal— and they got nothing out of it. They are the worst negotiators that have ever appeared in this Senate. They are pathetic, they are hypocrites, they stand here talking about democracy but when they had a chance to do something about electoral rorts they did not do it. The Libs are off the hook and the Greens have rolled over again. Absolutely pathetic. 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