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

I thank the honourable member for his question. It goes to the question of how we deal with the challenge of climate change and, most particularly, how we deal with the future of the emissions trading scheme and how we deal, in turn, with the impacts of the emissions trading scheme, assuming it passes the Senate, in the real economy.

On the question of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the government’s plan is clear—that is, we believe in getting the balance right between serving the interests of our firms, our industries and our jobs, on the one hand, and doing the right thing by climate change on the other. This is a difficult task. We accept that fact, we accept that challenge and we are getting on with it. What the honourable Leader of the Opposition fails to appreciate is that failure to act on climate change actually destroys jobs in agriculture, tourism and elsewhere in the economy.

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