Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I was asked about carbon pricing and electricity prices, and I am of course going to the question of what is driving electricity prices and drawing the House’s attention yet again to the wise words of the member for Groom. What I would say to the member for Groom as well is that he is someone who in the past has understood the need to price carbon in this country if we are to tackle climate change. Indeed, he devoted many hours of his life to endeavouring, across the political divide, to find a constructive solution, a bipartisan solution, to the question of pricing carbon. I regret that people like the member for Groom, who have that kind of goodwill, are no longer allowed to reach out across the political divide because the Leader of the Opposition has defined his role in politics as three-word slogans and wrecking things—always putting the political interest in front of the national interest. I can say to the member for Groom in respect of the question that he has asked: we as a government will continue to work on the issues of pricing carbon. He may well at some point find himself in a position to work constructively with us, because I know that is what he would prefer to do.

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