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

I thank the member for La Trobe for that wonderfully perceptive question and I thank her for her advocacy on behalf of her community in this place. Soon we will be in a position to announce full details of the carbon-pricing package which, as a Labor government, we have been working hard on. We have been working hard, as a Labor government, in order to tackle climate change—a huge challenge for our nation's future. As we have gone about the challenge of tackling climate change and cutting carbon pollution, we have done it guided by our Labor values. Guided by our Labor values, we have been working to ensure that nine out of 10 households get assistance through tax cuts or payment increases or a combination of both, that the vast majority of those households will not pay a cent as a result of pricing carbon and that more than three million low-income households will get the benefit of a 20 per cent buffer. We know that their budgets are tight and we want to make sure that, in tight budgets, they have 20 per cent of reassurance, that they have been assisted above and beyond the impact of a carbon price.

We also have wanted to take the decision to not put a carbon price on petrol because we understand that, in many parts of the country, people have got no choice but to get into their car and to drive their car to get places. It is true of the outer urban electorate that I represent, it is true of the outer urban electorate that the member for La Trobe represents and it is true of country and regional Australia, as represented in this place by so many good Labor members. For example, last week I was with the member for Lingiari, a place where you have got no alternative but to jump in your car and drive. So we have determined that, because of the needs of families in outer urban places and in regional Australia, there should not be a carbon price on petrol. I also thank the member for New England for his advocacy on behalf of regional Australia and his community as we have gone about pricing carbon. We have done it in a Labor way, and doing it in a Labor way means that we should look at the alternatives that are being advocated in this place. Unfortunately, the alternative is a $720 per year direct slug on families. The Liberal party's position was not always like this.

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

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