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

In answer to the supplementary question, I say the following: lesson No. 1, if you are given a question by the Manager of Opposition Business, do not read all of it; lesson No. 2, on the question of carbon pricing, there will be thousands, indeed, I suspect, hundreds of thousands of Australians, who will have something to say in this debate. And that is a good thing. That is why we have a democracy, that is why we have a debate and that is how we work through to consensus that people get to express a view. As those hundreds of thousands of Australians are having something to say, I understand that on each and every day the opposition will run in here trying to use these quotes for a fear campaign. What I would say to Australians is: do not fall for the fear campaign. As a nation, we can work through and find a solution here. One of the things that fortify me is that if you are prepared to work with people you can find a good solution.

Sometimes in this parliament in the past we have seen people prepared to work together. I draw the member for Groom back to his statements, for example, about the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. He worked hard on it and at the end of those negotiations he said about it things like: ‘I think we’ve got an exceptional package. I’m very happy with the deal. It’s a deal which will protect jobs and industries in Australia.’ He went on to say: ‘What we’ve done is protect not only the power industry but in fact the energy security supply in Victoria so the lights will stay on for industry and households.’ I have to say that if we, in a spirit of consensus, work through on the question of carbon pricing and at the end of it people are using words like ‘exceptional deal’, ‘protect jobs and industries in Australia’ and ‘keep the lights on’, I will be pretty well pleased. There we have it. You can, if you are prepared to work through, get to good solutions.

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