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

I thank the Leader of the National Party for his question. What I would say to the Leader of the National Party is what I have said publicly on a number of occasions now, which is: decisions will be worked through by the government and in the multiparty climate change committee about sectors of the economy that the carbon price will apply to, including whether or not it will apply to petrol. Those decisions are still to come. I indicated when statements were made, and reported in the media, on Saturday by the Deputy Leader of the Greens that it was inappropriate to be making those statements when those decisions and discussions were yet to come. But, given that the Leader of the National Party has raised with me statements made by people about carbon pricing, I have actually got a few of them he might be interested in. The Leader of the Opposition said:

If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax?

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