"Bob Brown is at even odds with Mr Rudd in his pitch for two bob each way politics. Today on ABC’s AM, in reference to the coal industry, Dr Brown stated the coal industry should not be “shutdown”, rather he thought “it should be replaced.”
"Under that logic, I am terrified that asking my wife how our marriage is going may elicit the response “Great, I’m not shutting you down, it’s just that I am replacing you.” I might have to ring the good doctor for some counselling.
"The ability to pay for things for your children that your parents could not afford for you; the ability to buy a decent house; to buy a boat; to go on holidays where you actually have cold, hard, ‘folding stuff’ in your wallet; these things and more will be compromised by Green zealots asking for policy payment for their support of Labor.
"Dr Bob Brown is not alone in his attitude. Mining, jobs and the economy in rural Australia are also firmly in the sights of Dr Sue Cory, Greens candidate for Leichhardt. She said recently at an Australian Conservation Forum in Cairns, and I quote, “Australia must break its addiction to coal”. She also reaffirmed the Greens policy of removing the diesel fuel rebate, thus ensuring that after the Greens have taken all the mining jobs away, there will be no rural industries for out-of-work miners to gain employment elsewhere in regional Australia.
"The unsettling part to this story is that the Labor party is doing preference deals with these ideological zealots. This means the good Green Doctors and their party say they will make sure their people vote for the Labor party before the Coalition in the coming election, as long as the Labor party gives the Greens influence over Labor policy.
"Reinforcing Labor’s connection to the Greens, of course, is Mr Garrett who now says what he is told rather than what he believes. Mr Garrett, Labor’s Environment Minister and former disciple of Dr Brown, is the previous head of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He hardly presents as a person with the best interests of the coal industry keeping him awake at night.
"On Labor/Green ascendancy at the election, keep an eye out for Mr Garrett and Dr Brown, et-al, levitating in on a biodegradable, hydrogen powered, solar windmill, in a caftan, to a coal mining town in Eastern Australia." Senator Joyce said.