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

These words were from an opposition member: ‘Pollution taxes encourage companies to decrease discharges of pollutants to the extent that it is less costly to treat waste than to meet the tax bill.’ He said these words: ‘Producers have responded to the tax in two ways. First, they have switched to less polluting production processes. Secondly, they have developed new technology to minimise waste created by existing production processes.’ There we go. We have those wise words and the member for Flinders owning up to them. No, it was not the member for Wentworth who said that. It was not the member for North Sydney. It was the member for Flinders in his 1990 thesis. We know, of course, that then he was a believer in dealing with climate change. We know that he then endorsed carbon pricing.

The truth is that many thinking members of the Liberal Party still do. I appeal to them to be their best. I appeal to them to walk in the reform tradition of the Liberal Party. I appeal to them not to give way to this fear and climate change scepticism and denial. I appeal to them to maintain the historic mission of the Liberal Party: understanding the power of markets. What that means is that they will not be able to follow this man any longer.

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