Page 965 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 29 March 2011

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MR COE: Thank you. So it is a matter such as this, this core Greens’ socialist ideology, that Ms Le Couteur chooses to bring in, nobody else. And I wonder why that is. Is it perhaps because the others are a little more sensitive to their electoral situation? Or is it perhaps that Ms Le Couteur, as a true believer, is doing the heavy lifting for them all?

We got a bit of a sneak preview into what the Greens actually think, what their real philosophy, is just a week or two back when Fiona Byrne, candidate for Marrickville, said quite a few interesting things. She said that she supported the boycott of Israel and that if she was elected to parliament—

Mr Corbell: I must admit I am a bit fraught on this point of order, Madam Assistant Speaker, because I am actually enjoying Mr Coe’s speech, but I must draw your attention to the standing order relating to relevance. The discussion is about peak oil. I have not heard Mr Coe, in the last couple of minutes, discuss the matter of peak oil and I really do not think that issues about decisions by a state government candidate in Marrickville about boycott of Israeli products and services is in any way relevant to the discussion. And I would ask you, Madam Assistant Speaker, to look deep inside you and have regard to the standing orders of this place.

MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: On the point of order, Mr Corbell, I think that when we get to the mention of Marrickville it is outside the jurisdiction of the ACT and I would ask Mr Coe to bring it back to the ACT.

MR COE: Sure. I will bring it back to peak oil. I think it is important because I think there is a fair chance that Fiona Byrne of Marrickville, in addition to the boycott of Israel, probably is a big advocate for the notion of peak oil. I am quite confident she would be. And I dare say that had she been elected to parliament for the seat of Marrickville and had she managed to get through the state-wide boycott of Israel, like she so desperately wanted, she might have also advocated peak oil. I hope I am not misrepresenting her but I think there is a fair chance that Ms Byrne is of a similar view to Ms Le Couteur and indeed some of the others with regard to peak oil and perhaps even the boycott of Israel. But we can save that for another day.

What I think is relevant to peak oil is that you should look at the supply curve which relates to peak oil. I wonder whether that supply curve could also be likened to the vote curve of the Greens and whether, in fact, the 2007 federal election and perhaps the 2007 New South Wales state election also represented peak Greens. We have peak Greens and they are cruising on downwards. I think next year, come October, we might see something which looks very similar to this notion of peak oil being reflected in the ACT Legislative Assembly election.

As they say, these people have delusions of grandeur and they have delusions of Greendeur. But when it comes down to it, it is all about fear mongering and their entrenched ideological hatred of the car and of what it represents, of the industry it represents, of the freedom it represents, of people’s choice to be able to live their life as they want. What the car represents is a family. It is a family that lives out in the suburbs of Tuggeranong or Belconnen and it opens up their opportunities to live their


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