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

I thank the member for Maranoa for his question. As the Assistant Treasurer said before, all fuel, including petrol, diesel and LPG for passenger motor vehicles and light comm­ercial vehicles, will not be subject to a carbon price. He went on to make the point that, when it came to heavy vehicles, we would be revealing further details when we have completed our decisions on the emissions trading scheme. He made that very clear as well.

I would like to say a few things about carbon pricing, and I will refer those comments to rural and regional Queensland in particular. No part of our country will benefit more greatly from a price on carbon than regional and rural Queensland because no part of our country will be more affected by the impacts of dangerous climate change than parts of regional Queensland, which will feel those impacts particularly in agriculture. It is imperative that all of us in this parliament do something about carbon pollution and put in place a solution for the future which secures the environment for our great state, including regional areas but not just regional areas—there is the Great Barrier Reef, for example.

There is a rolled gold case to put a price on carbon if you are a Queenslander. The area that the member for Maranoa asks about is a great coal producing region. We on this side of the House see a bright future for coal in this country. We understand that we need a price on carbon to drive the investment in renewable energy and cleaner—

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