Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition—you are quite correct, Mr Deputy Speaker. I apologise. He has taken up the mantle of Harold Egbert Camping. He is not leading the coalition or the Liberal Party any more; he is leading the rapture party. Instead of 21 May, the end of the world is now going to land on 1 July 2012. There will be a great gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. Blood will run in the streets. Cities will be not only damaged or destroyed but also wiped off the map entirely. So this catastrophe will descend upon us all. The rapture party behind him, claiming all these sorts of things, will be exposed for the fraud that it is once the carbon price is installed. That is what the Leader of the Opposition is scared about and he wants an early election because he knows the ground under his feet will completely disappear when the carbon price is introduced.

This carbon price was part of Labor policy before the last election. We have always said that we would begin an emissions trading scheme via the introduction of a carbon price. That has always been part of the government's policy and that is where we are heading now. We are heading towards the introduction of an emissions trading scheme by introducing the carbon price as a first step. That is absolutely essential to drive the deep economic reform that we require.

We all know that the member for Wentworth supports this. We certainly know that the member for Flinders supports this because we have seen some of his comments in his previous research papers claiming this was the way to go. We have also seen comments that eventually the inaction plan of the coalition will cost $30 billion. We have also heard the coalition's claims about the Carbon Farming Initiative. They are concerned about the impact of this policy on arable land when we know that their inaction policy will require 20 million hectares to be planted to achieve their objectives—that is 63 per cent of the available landmass of Australia. Their scheme would wipe out arable land if it is brought into effect. I know our farmers will be deeply concerned about that and it is why the National Farmers' Federation supports the government's Carbon Farming Initiative and does not support the coalition's inaction plan.

The coalition's inaction plan is a total fraud. They say that they support and believe the science but they do not. This is go-away money. They say that they are committed to a five per cent reduction in emissions, but they know that their policy will not achieve that. The thing we should be pointing out as well is that five per cent is where they intend to stop. The government's policy is to move to a 60 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050. We have to achieve those reductions in the longer term. The coalition would stop at five per cent and that would be the end of the story. They have no ambitions to go any further than that. We have to keep that economic dynamic moving beyond 2020 to achieve the reductions that the world needs. The fraud should be exposed: they have no intention of taking their action any further.

I could say no better words than what the journalist Ross Gittins had to say in the Sydney Morning Herald on 25 May when he talked about the Leader of the Opposition's policy:

I don't like using the L-word, but Tony Abbott is setting new lows in the lightness with which he plays with the truth. He blatantly works both sides of the street, nodding happily in the company of climate-change deniers, but in more intellectually respectable company professing belief in human-caused global warming, his commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 and the efficacy of his no-offence policies.

He grossly exaggerates the costs involved in a carbon tax, telling business audiences they'll have to pay the lot and be destroyed by it, while telling the punters business will pass all the costs on to them. He forgets to mention that most of the proceeds from the tax will be returned as compensation to businesses and households.

He repeats the half-truth that nothing Australians could do by themselves would reduce global emissions, while failing to correct the punters' … belief that Australia is the only country contemplating action.

We know that is the truth, as we have seen the coalition's own colleagues in the UK and New Zealand moving forward with far more ambitious objectives. David Cameron said that the UK government's significant 50 per cent reduction target:

… will position the UK as a leading player in the global low-carbon economy, creating significant new industries and jobs.

Furthermore, the Confederation of British Industry has welcomed that government’s position by saying:

With the green economy potentially bringing in £200 billion—

approximately AU$305 billion—

of investment into the UK’s energy sector alone, we need policies that will foster growth by decarbonising our energy supply, increase energy efficiency and support the competitiveness of our manufacturing base.

So business and the Conservative government in the UK obviously have more sense of the realities of the new economies arriving in this world than the Leader of the Opposition. Professor Garnaut also said:

There was for a while in the twentieth century a great contest of ideas, about whether market-based or regulatory approaches to managing the economy were more conducive to economic welfare. The regulatory approach went under the name of 'central planning'.

… … …

Picking a few areas of action and seeking to reduce costs through encouraging competitive approaches in those narrow areas is a variation on a regulatory theme. For those of us who remember the Berlin wall and, heaven forbid, Tito's Yugoslavia, it is the Yugoslav variant of central planning.

Given that they are the rapture party I would like to remind them of the words of Jeremiah 5:21:

Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear—

The debate is over. The time to act is now. Do not leave a legacy of failure for future generations for which you will be eternally condemned. (Time expired)

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