Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

Absolutely, turn it all off, because that is how it works. Shut down the country, turn off your air conditioner and stop your car. That is how it works. I tell you: you are on the way to being a one-term wonder if you back the Prime Minister on this one. You have not been here before, but when people are unhappy they let you know, and they are only just starting to realise the full implications of this tax. You should not thank the member for Lyne for supporting you; you should really go over and lobby him and say, ‘Vote against it.’ Then the bill would not get through and we would all be saved from this carbon tax. We would have cheaper electricity, we would have cheaper petrol and we would have higher employment.

It was interesting that the Climate Change Coalition brought out that study that said this was going to create 34,000 jobs over about 20 years. When you look back at the rate of job creation in this country, it is normally more like 34,000 a month than 34,000 over decades. So you could hardly put forward the carbon tax as a generator of jobs. It is a job destroyer. It is a scheme that is going to lower the standard of living. It is a scheme that the government is responsible for, the Greens are responsible for and the two Independents—the member for Lyne and the member for New England—are responsible for.

They will be held accountable for the fall in living standards and the extra cost of living that people will endure as a result of this carbon tax. I hope they have the guts to walk down the main streets of their major towns, to get out there and tell people why this carbon tax is going to be so good for them, why their standard of living is going to be so great and how a carbon tax will actually cool the planet. They have a lot of explaining to do in their electorates. It is going to take more than a beard for the member for Lyne to hide from his constituents on this one, I have to tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is going to take much more than a garden gnome type beard to do that. He is going to have some serious explaining to do, not only to the students, not only to small business but to everyone in his electorate. He stands condemned. (Time expired)

Debate (on motion by Ms Smyth) adjourned.

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