Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion to suspend standing and sessional orders. This matter is urgent, because the government is refusing to answer the most basic questions in this place about the carbon tax. The government is refusing to answer a question about how many jobs will be affected. The government is refusing to answer a question about the impact on the economy. The government is refusing to answer a simple question about the impact on households. The government is refusing to answer a simple question about what the price will be, leaving the vacuum to be filled by the Greens, who range between $40 a tonne and $100 a tonne. The government is refusing to answer questions about the impact of other trading partners, such as Russia and Canada, declaring that they will not have a second round of the Kyoto protocol. The government is refusing to answer a question about whether it is modelling the impact of our trading partners pulling out over the weekend from that commitment. The government is refusing to respond to the modelling of the Australian Food and Grocery Council which suggests that food and grocery prices will rise by between three and five per cent at $26 a tonne.

The government is refusing to answer every simple question that the Australian people want answered. Instead, it is sending out others. A Prime Minister with no courage at all is standing behind an advertising campaign commenced last night led by others. The Prime Minister stated blatantly on the front page of a newspaper today that she was sending her ministers out for a blitz on the Australian community, but she will not answer simple questions in this place. The Australian people are bemused by this, but they are also made afraid by this. Why? Because it clearly illustrates the fact that this is a government with no confidence, no plan and no roadmap. It declares issues to be the greatest moral challenge of all time and it declares issues to be fundamental to the Australian economy, yet it leaves the great questions unanswered. It leaves Australians confused and in a place where, if they cannot have confidence in this government, they cannot have confidence in the destiny of the nation. So it comes as no surprise that this is a matter of urgency because as each day passes new data comes out that indicates that confidence in the community is, at best, flat but it is having a real impact on our economy. Flat retail sales, flat housing starts—it all comes through in the economy because this is a government that creates no sense of confidence. It is a government that does not believe in its own words. If the government does not believe in its own words and if it has a Prime Minister who refuses to debate this issue in detail in this place, how can you expect Australians to believe the government knows what it is doing?

In the same way that this government confuses Australians about its fiscal strategy and in the same way that it confuses Australians about its approach to climate change—having said it is the great moral challenge—now the two chief salespeople for the government's new carbon tax are the ones who only a few months ago said to Kevin Rudd, 'Dump it and dump it fast.' We have a Treasurer with no commitment and no spine. We have a Prime Minister with no courage and no direction.

Out of all of that, they are smiling at the thought that the Australian people are afraid. I will tell you what: the carbon tax issue is not about climate change; it is about the rising cost of living for everyday Australians. That is what it is about. That is why there was a visceral reaction to the ads last night. There is extreme concern in the community about the introduction of a carbon tax because Australians know that over the next six months they will face higher interest rates, higher electricity prices, higher health costs and higher education costs. They will face a flood tax, a mining tax and now a carbon tax. All of it makes everyday life more expensive for everyday Australians. The Prime Minister, who proclaims that this will be the year of decision-making, does not have the ticker to come in here and lay the details of the carbon tax on the floor of the House for all Australians to debate.

This is a government without direction and without confidence, and it emanates directly from the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. They are not committed to this. They simply do not understand where they are taking the Australian people. From the coalition's perspective, we are standing up for everyday Australians and we call on the government to go to the people and get their endorsement if they think it is such a great policy. (Time expired)

See this speech in context