Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change) Share this | Hansard source

The simple fact remains that if there is a concern on the opposition’s part about the treatment of the coal industry under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a policy position could have been discussed and adopted in the coalition party room. It could have been put forward in the form of an amendment. The amendment could have been discussed in the context of the Senate considerations or at an earlier stage. But the fact is that they are disunited. They cannot agree on a single policy issue and today they have stood up in the Senate and voted against a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which is the only mechanism by which we are going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country, and they will be held to account for it.

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