Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

In the answer to question No. 1 today the Prime Minister referred to an interview with me by Mr Laurie Oakes. He quoted it as evidence that my remarks were inconsistent with the speech I gave to the Liberal Party’s federal council on Saturday, and he said ‘the Leader of the Opposition changes his policy by the day and by the week’. That is a misrepresentation. In the interview with Mr Oakes, which the Prime Minister said was inconsistent with the remarks I made on Saturday, I said emissions trading is not ‘an end in itself’:

The objective is to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. There are many ways you can do it … different approaches will be taken by different countries … The ETS is a means to an end. It is not an end in itself.

I also said:

… the emissions trading scheme that is on offer from Labor and the way Labor is constructing it, we can see now, is going to do real damage to our economy … because of a rushed, poor design.

               …            …            …

They are already making mistakes and there are more to come and it puts our economy at risk.

Honourable members will note that that is entirely consistent with what I said on Saturday.

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