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

What the shadow Treasurer well knows is that we announced a mechanism today; we did not announce a dollar price today. Any attempt by the shadow Treasurer to make assumptions about figures is an attempt to cause fear, an attempt to mislead. Every Australian should recognise the opposition for what it is: an opposition with no policies or plans to make a real difference to climate change.

Let me say this to the shadow Treasurer: I understand pricing carbon will have price impacts and I want to be very upfront about that with the Australian people. Indeed, the reason you price carbon is to have price impacts, so that high-pollution commodities cost more and low-pollution commodities cost less. Then the market will adjust, people will innovate and there will be change to a clean energy future with more low-pollution solutions for our Australian economy and for the people of Australia. There will be price impacts. Because we are a Labor government, because we believe in fairness, we will ensure that this carbon price mechanism works fairly—

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