Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Well, this is a considered way in which to develop public policy, because it is a serious public policy challenge for the future: (1) we are going to have a green paper in July; (2) by the end of the year we anticipate having a white paper in response to that, and we will canvass all of the relevant matters concerning the future of the emissions-trading scheme in those papers.

Of course the position adopted by the former Prime Minister is right. If you adopt a position of acting on climate change it does have an impact on energy prices. That is just the truth. He said it then; we say it now. What is the difference between us and them now? We have a plan of action to deal with this in the future. Those opposite have decided that this is a matter which they intend to turn into short-term political advantage. Those opposite are committed to a fear campaign. What we have is a return of the climate change sceptics, a return of the Kyoto sceptics, from a party which will do anything and say anything in order to obtain political advantage. Our government has a plan of action on climate change; you have nothing but short-term political opportunism.

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