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

I know that those on that side of the House are not concerned about jobs. What they are concerned about is running a scare campaign. But a price on carbon is important because it drives investment in clean energy. To be a prosperous economy in the 21st century we have to be driven by clean energy and that requires a price on carbon. It does mean as a nation we have to make a significant transition. It does mean that there will be assistance for some industries which are trade exposed and energy intensive. We are absolutely committed to working with those industries because we are concerned about jobs—jobs in the near term, jobs in the medium term and jobs in the long term—because only we on this side of the House have the guts to take the hard decisions to protect our future prosperity.

Those on that side of the House are running away, running away from the fundamental decisions that need to be taken to support jobs and to create wealth in our economy. They are pretending that they have a policy in this area. Their policy of subsidies for polluters will tax taxpayers and hand the money to industry but it will not necessarily provide any of the assistance for the workers of this country that we are determined to provide. We are absolutely concerned about jobs and we welcome a debate about the future of jobs in this country, because, when we have in the past put in place the big structural reforms, we have done that so we can support jobs, not just more jobs but jobs with higher wages, so a higher living standard for all Australians. That is what reform is about.

The Liberal Party once used to stand for fundamental reform. They do not any longer. They are now split between two camps. You have the Abbott camp, which is the deniers and they take any opportunity to—

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