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

I rise to oppose the suspension of standing orders because this parliament, and this nation, does not need a further opportunity to listen to the relentless negativity of the opposition. We are a confident and creative country. We are a country that is rightly proud of its past and a country with the courage to make sure that we have the best possible future. We are not a nation that has, in the past, tried to avoid seizing the challenges of the future.

Today we are called upon to seize the challenge of our age—and that is tackling climate change. We are up to this job. As Australians, we are up to this job. We are up to the job of accepting the science. The science is now unambiguous and clear—carbon pollution is changing our climate, it is caused by human beings and we need to cut carbon pollution. We are not a nation that has sat idly by when the world has faced challenges in the past. We are one of the 20 big polluters on the planet. We are the highest polluter per head of population in the developed world. We need to make sure that we keep pace with the world. We should not lead the world but we should not be left behind either. We need to cut carbon pollution.

The economists are telling us that the best way of cutting carbon pollution is to price carbon. Prime Minister Howard believed that and the members of his cabinet believed that, including the current Leader of the Opposition—before he succumbed to the kind of opportunism we see on display today. We will use the most efficient mechanism to cut carbon pollution.

Because we come to this with our Labor values, we will ensure that we protect jobs and assist those Australian families who need our assistance the most. Our Labor tradition, our Labor way, is to understand that working people need access to the benefits and dignity of work, which is why we are so proud that more than 700,000 jobs have been created since the government was elected in 2007. More jobs will be created in the future, including after we have priced carbon.

And we will be providing assistance to Australian families. We want to work with Australian families to manage their cost-of-living pressures. That is why we will provide tax cuts, it is why we will increase payments and it is why we will provide benefits to pensioners. We will look after those in the community who need our assistance the most—that is the Labor way.

The Leader of the Opposition is inviting this nation to be less than it can be. He is inviting this nation to believe we are not up to the challenges of reform. He is inviting this nation to pretend that we can shape a future by sleepwalking towards it. I believe differently. We are a proud people, we are a creative people, we are a confident people and we are up to getting this job done.

On Sunday we will answer the questions Australians have rightly been asking us. My door has been open to the scientists, to the economists, to the energy experts, to the social welfare sector, to employers, to unions and to people of goodwill who want our nation to get on with this job. Having worked with them, we are now at the stage of saying that we know the very best way to price carbon, the very best way to reduce our pollution and the very best way to make sure we are ready for a clean energy future. We will seize the opportunity of that future. We will not allow the tide of negativity from the opposition and the scare campaigns to hold this nation back. We will walk towards this future, we will deliver the reforms the nation needs and we will work with Australian families as we do so. My message to Australians is very clear: we are up to this job and we are going to do it together, creating the clean energy future that the Australian community deserves.

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