Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

and that the government has established a green paper process, which is part of the way through, involving discussions with people from a variety of industries who do have concerns of this kind. I have been involved in many of these discussions with major companies, including as recently as this morning, about their views as to the structure of the scheme. One of the biggest companies in Australia with particular points of view to put met with me about these issues, and one of the things they said was: ‘Don’t delay. Yes, there are issues to be debated. Yes, there is a good process through which these matters can be debated in public, courtesy of the green paper process and Professor Garnaut’s report. But do not delay; proceed to make decisions and ensure that Australia can get on with tackling climate change and playing a leadership role in the world because we cannot afford to keep ignoring this problem.’ We as a nation cannot afford to continue to ignore the problem as the former Howard government did—with the Leader of the Opposition as minister for the environment—for 10 years. Australia can no longer afford to be run by climate change sceptics.

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