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

On this side of the parliament we are determined that from 1 July we will price carbon. We are determined we will have a prosperous, low-pollution economy of the future. We are determined that we will have the jobs of the future. We are determined to make a contribution to tackling climate change. We are determined to do that efficiently, fairly and with certainty for Australian business.

The Leader of the Opposition can engage in his scare campaigns, he can engage in his politics of the past and inevitably we will see him do that. The Leader of the Opposition is so little interested in climate change that he is not even paying attention to this debate. He is, as always, all about the politics and not at all about the policy. I say to the Leader of the Opposition: we will have this debate and we will win it every day. We will contest every proposition and we will correct every attempt to mislead. We will have this debate and we will win it.

If any Australian is wondering what the Leader of the Opposition actually stands for, if they listened to this debate, if they have listened to his hysteria, if they have listened to his carrying on, if they have listened to his misleading claims, if they have read his motion with misleading claims in it, then let me summarise what the opposition is on about. Let me use the words of the member for Wentworth:

Tony himself has, in just four or five months, publicly advocated the blocking of the ETS, the passing of the ETS, the amending of the ETS and, if the amendments were satisfactory, passing it, and now the blocking of it.

His only redeeming virtue in this: his remarkable lack of conviction …

Never a truer word spoken. A hollow man out of his depth.

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