John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Blair knows, I know and other leaders in the AP6 know that the way of the future is to have an agreement that includes all of the world’s major emitters. If we were to follow the advice and sign Australia up to an arrangement that imposed a carbon price on the valuable resource industries of this country that did not impose the same price on our competitors, we would, in the words of the member for Batman, who cares about the workers of Australia, do enormous damage not only to the resource industries of Australia but to the workers of Australia. If you want progress on climate change, you have got to involve everybody. If you want to destroy one of the most valuable sectors of the Australian economy, hobble the resource industry with a carbon price that is not being borne by our competitors—and that in reality is the policy of the Australian Labor Party.

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