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

I thank the member for Indi for her question. She raises with me statements by Toyota. I have actually directly and personally consulted with Toyota on the question of carbon pricing. I did it yesterday, as it turns out. I know others were engaged elsewhere, but I was speaking to Toyota and, as I regularly do, to businesses: businesses around the country; businesses that trade in Australia; businesses that employ a lot of Australians. What businesses say to me is that they understand climate change is real. They accept the science that the Leader of the Opposition rejects. Of course, because they are businesspeople, they are always working out what is the lowest priced way of driving change. That is what gives them their competitive advantage as businesspeople. So they accept the advice of economists that the best way of tackling carbon pollution is to price carbon.

Then, of course, businesses want to be heard on this major public policy reform. They want to be heard on this major public policy reform in the way they have been heard on public policy reforms in the past when we have transformed our economy and adapted—

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