Menzies House

Brown’s Exit Gives Extreme Left a Foothold in The Greens

Senator Bob Brown’s resignation from the leadership of the Greens is a sign that the far left are pushing forward, and will mean that the so-called ‘progressive’ party is only going to get more extreme, writes Senator Ron Boswell: 

It is obvious that Bob Brown is resigning today because he knows his time is up and he wants to go out on a high. Brown knows that the party is losing the environmental message the party was based on and is now being used by the far left as a way to spread their extreme agenda. He is just trying to get out before that happens.

Without Brown, the far left and extremists will steamroll over the others and become the new reigning force within the Greens.

These members include the now Deputy Leader, Adam Bandt, a self-identified former member of the Left Alliance that once admonished ultra-left groups such as Resistance and the International Socialists for not being left-wing enough.

Bandt has referred to the Greens as a ‘bourgeois party’ that can be used as a Trojan horse for pushing an anti-capitalist, socialist Marxist agenda. He has identified the Greens as the best avenue to achieving socialism in Australia.

Senator Lee Rhiannon, who has long-standing ties with far left and Marxist organisations, has also played a role in pushing the Greens further and further to the left.

She has led the Greens’ push for an anti-Israel boycott, and has openly supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, one of the many issues that has divided the Greens party. A former member of the Communist Party of Australia, she once argued that the Greens respresents the closest to the best of the CPA’s politics and methods.

Energy White Paper proves roof-top solar is just another costly mess

Ron Boswell on the Government's failed roof-top solar policy:

The Gillard government’s energy White Paper shows that its roof-top solar policies must now be put in the same category as pink batts and school halls as proof it could not organise a drink in a brewery, does not learn from its mistakes, and has no comprehension whatsoever of value for vast sums of public money

The White Paper warns the cross subsidisation of roof top solar by families that haven’t installed systems could be $4.7billion by 2020. It urges the federal and state government to work towards harmonising state based tariffs paid for roof-top solar power to reduce the cost (although it is the Commonwealth, not the States, who was mainly responsible for the wasteful mess.)

The explosion in demand for roof-top solar systems remains primarily built on massive upfront cash subsidies from federal taxpayers that have been augmented by the decision of states to buy the electricity they generate at inflated prices

The federal government knew, no later than mid 2009, that it had a tiger by the tail with runaway demand for the systems based on its massive subsidy and the emerging tariffs , but it has only ever tinkered at the edges because the Greens demand that roof-top solar is important for greenhouse gas abatement.

Win for the Greens, but a loss for Australia

Ron Boswell discusses the damage that the Gillard-Brown Government's proposed maps to the Coral Sea Marine Reserve is a huge loss for Australians:

The Government’s decision to release the proposed maps of the million square kilometre Coral Sea Marine Reserve was a great victory for  the American environmental group, PEW foundation, and their public relations tactics. But it has been a huge loss to the Australian fishing charter boat industry and will have an effect on recreational fishing.

Charter boats, trawlers, fishermen, are going to bare a very heavy cost for the government and the 'green movements' decision. And the processors, slip ways, refrigeration operations industry and all other supporting industries, are going to take a huge hit."

There is a thirty boat, charter industry that operates out of Cairns. It pumps about sixty million dollars into the local economy every year. It brings wealthy international travellers in to enjoy the North Queensland Marlin fishery.  It is tag and release fishing, and is one of the most sustainable in the world.

The charter boats, and the small number of fisherman, will be excluded from the massive green zone.

Both the Greens and the Minister recognise that the Coral Sea is in a pristine condition. This is due to the charter boats and fishermen whom fish in the green zone and monitor any illegal fishing methods, such as drift nets, super seiners, and long liners mass destructive methods, and report any illegal fishing in the area. They also monitor catches and pass that information on to government.

This decision will leave the Coral Sea with no monitoring, there be no observation of illegal fishing, and if the Coral Sea is in pristine condition, the Greens can thank the charter boat and fishermen who work the area for keeping it so.

There will be no activity out there in the Coral Sea to observe, it will be an open invite to illegal fishing in the Coral Sea.

Greens and Labor refuse to support Indigenous Land Rights

Ron Boswell discusses his (failed) motion yesterday in the Senate on conservation groups reneging on their  promise not not interfere in a deal to create wealth for indigenous communities:

The Greens and Labor have today (Ed: yesterday) decided not to support a motion that called on conservation groups in Western Australia to honour a signed agreement they made with the indigenous land owners of the Kimberley that promised Green groups would not interfere with the Woodside Gas Hub project at James Price Point.

In 2007 conservation groups such as, the World Wildlife Foundation, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Conservation Council of Western Australia, and the Wilderness Society all signed an agreement that they would recognise the rights of the Indigenous owners of the Kimberley to work with Woodside Gas to create a gas processing plant at James Price Point.

The agreement entitled the Joint Position Statement on the Kimberley Liquefied Natural Gas Project promised, amongst other things, to support the project as long as it was in a single hub area. The agreement also recognises that the Indigenous peoples of the area should have the right to control and monitor the use of the land in relation to this project, as well as not interfering with its development.

However, conservation groups in the area have now reneged on their promise not to interfere with the deal and are actively campaigning against the gas hub despite the fact that the Indigenous people of that area have made it clear that it is their wish the project go ahead.

This plant would create jobs and wealth for the Indigenous members of the Kimberley for years to come and break the cycle of poverty which has plagued the Indigenous people of that region.

Further Assault On Freedom of Speech

Senator Ron Boswell discusses freedom of speech and the troubling case of Dr David van Gend in this MPI made in Parliament last week:

I wish to raise a matter pertaining to the restrictions that we have in Australia on free speech. This issue has recently attracted attention in the case of the well known columnist Andrew Bolt. I also wish to draw the attention of the Senate to another case, that of Dr David van Gend, who makes regular public contributions on social conservative issues. Dr van Gend is the subject of a complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Commission of Queensland for comments he made in a public forum on the issue of same-sex parents. The Courier-Mail sponsored the forum, aimed at providing a balance of opinion both for and against this issue, which is important to many Australians. It was a democratic exchange of ideas and opinions.

On 29 June 2011 the Courier-Mail invited Dr Karen Brooks and Dr David van Gend to submit opinion pieces—the case for and against—on gay marriage. Dr van Gend wrote for the case against. This is part of what he wrote:

IF you hold to the old-fashioned idea a baby deserves both a mother and a father, the president of the Queensland branch of the Labor Party, Andrew Dettmer, calls your views "abominable".

The state Labor conference recently voted to destroy the timeless meaning of marriage and redefine it to include a pair of men or a lesbian couple, and Dettmer slurred opponents as being no better than racists …He further said: Discrimination against people on the basis of their gender or their sexual orientation is just as abominable and just as unsupportable as discrimination on the basis of race.

Dr van Gend replied:

Yes, it is discrimination to prohibit the "marriage" of two men, but it is just and necessary discrimination, because the only alternative is the far worse act of discrimination against children brought artificially into the world by such men, compelled to live their whole lives without a mother. Now that approaches the abominable.

Bob Brown Tries to Defend the Indefensible

Ron Boswell attacks Bob Brown for his disgraceful attempt to defend the anti-Semitic boycott of Max Brenner Chocolates because of their Jewish owners:

Today, Senator Bob Brown, in an attempt to defend the indefensible - the boycott and persecution of Max Brenner Chocolate stores - moved a motion in the Senate that: "the Senate upholds the democratic principle that consumers should be free to buy or not buy goods based on personal ethics."

Bob Brown’s proposed motion today follows the Greens refusal to support my motion on Thursday 18^th August, 2011 condemning the boycott of Max Brenner chocolate stores and all other Israeli companies.

The motion by the Greens was an attempt to hide what many Australians have come to realise that the Greens are moving further and further to the left, and that despite Senator Brown’s assurances, the truth is that the Greens support this blatantly anti-Semitic boycott.

The boycott of Max Brenner Chocolate shop and all other Israeli companies that manufacture and sell products to and within Israel as part of the Global Boycott Divestments and Sanctions (GBDS) must be condemned in the strongest terms.

Today, I successfully moved an amendment to Senator Brown’s motion by adding the following words to the Senator Brown’s motion:

“And that consumers should not be prevented from exercising that democratic principle to be free to buy or not to buy, by means of unlawful secondary boycott, intimidation or picket”

The amendment was carried on the voices on the floor with Senator Brown lacking the courage to divide.

Senator Brown should understand by now that when you are in a hole, you stop digging.  The original motion proposed by Bob Brown was a poor attempt to justify the boycotting and picketing of Max Brenner’s chocolate and coffee stores. 

With protesters planning to block potential customers from entering the Max Brenner store in Brisbane this Saturday, the 27^th August as part of an BDS orchestrated campaign, Senator Brown attempted today to give the protestors some form of moral justification for the boycott planned this weekend.

Since the arrival of the new Senators in July the party has pursued a socialist alliance agenda with Senator Brown fixated on Senator Rhiannon’s support for the global BDS campaign.

Despite Bob’s Brown saying that he is opposed to the boycott his refusal to vote for my two previous motions condemning the boycotts and his motion today attempting to justify the boycotts speaks volumes. Senator Brown is saying one thing to the press and doing another thing in the Parliament.

Ron Boswell is a Senator from Queensland, and the Father of the Senate. For previous Menzies House coverage of the BDS issue, click here to read Danielle Harris invite you to join a Brisbane Rally in support of Max Brenner, and here to read Adam McKee on the actions the Victorian Government have taken.