Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I was drawing a very clear contrast with our policy and that of the now opposition. The now opposition have a plan to tax families and to hand all of that money to polluters. That is what they are proposing to do—$10 billion worth of so-called direct action initiatives, we are told, which are going to be paid for by the Australian people and handed to the polluters. We, in contrast to them, will charge polluters and provide assistance to households and industry. You could not get a clearer contrast between both those approaches. Our approach is strongly supported by many others opposite, as I was saying before. I will quote the member for Wentworth, again from 8 February 2010:

Having the government pick projects for subsidy is a recipe for fiscal recklessness on a grand scale, and there will always be a temptation for projects to be selected for their political appeal.

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