The Government joined the Coalition today to vote down Greens Leader Bob Brown's motion that recognising the indigenous people of Australia be the first matter for the Senate each day, as it is in the House of Representatives.

"The Senate is alone amongst parliaments, councils and public meetings around Australia in not beginning proceedings with acknowledgement of first Australians," Senator Brown said.

The Lord's Prayer will continue to go first in the Senate.

The Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples has now delivered its recommendations.

In late 2010, the Prime Minister appointed a 20 member Expert Panel to provide advice on the Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as part of the agreement with the Australian Greens.

Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown appeared on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the political budget surplus, the Afghanistan conflict, dental care, preferencing of votes, and the Australian Greens National Conference.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown, Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters, Senators for Western Australia Rachel Siewert and Scott Ludlam, and Member for Melbourne Adam Bandt spoke to the media about the Australian Greens National Conference in Fremantle, WA.

Topics included the allocation of preferences, the environmental threats posed by developments in the Kimberley, and the Nationals' call for a "discussion paper" on coal seam gas. 

1 September marks one year since the Australian Greens signed an historic agreement with Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Labor Government.

The Gillard agreement has achieved outcomes for Australians in terms of passage of bills and lack of confrontation between the houses. We have consultation instead of confrontation.

Transcript is after the break

Ladies and Gentlemen

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the Canberra region and all the Indigenous people of Australia.

This Friday, 1 July, is the 28th anniversary of the High Court judgement which stopped the Franklin Dam. But in the preceding week of 1983, Tasmania recorded the lowest temperatures in history. It snowed heavily to sea level. The bulldozers in the Franklin and Gordon Valley were stopped. So, Mother Nature got into the act ahead of the High Court!

Bob Brown's Senate speech on the proposed radioactive waste dump proposed for Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

Greens Leader Bob Brown visited the contentious Brighton Bypass Aboriginal site this morning north of Hobart.

"A large swathe of earth has been removed 40m square or more and half a metre deep with no archaeological or heritage officer on site," Senator Brown said.

"The sense of place and 40,000 years of continuous history is being destroyed forever. It is a very destructive process and who knows what artefacts are in the removed soil."