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

Of course, what we are hearing from the opposition—and here we go again—are a set of misrepresentations about the way in which carbon pricing works—just as they misrepresented what would happen about coal, just as they misrepresented what would happen about steel, just as they misrepresented what would happen about the cost of living, just as they have misrepresented, every step of the way, every aspect of this scheme. Here we go again. The question that was asked by the member went to international linking. Let me explain to him: yes, it is a linked scheme because that enables us to reduce carbon pollution at the least possible cost. There was a period when the opposition understood this and I refer them to the words of their spokesperson who said:

We have unashamedly tried to source the cheapest abatement because once verified, a tonne of carbon is a tonne of carbon. And that is all that the planet knows.

Because of the usual cheap politics we see, when the opposition or one of its spokespersons is in front of an audience where they think that is going to be a good message or they are in front of perhaps a business audience and they want to explain that their policy is about cheap abatement, they will say something about that. But then in a community meeting, when they think they might get away with stoking some fears about the rest of the world, they say something different. For example, the Leader of the Opposition said in complete contradiction of his spokesperson:

Our five per cent target is to be achieved entirely within Australia, no taxpayers' funds would be spent overseas under the policy we announced.

What the Leader of the Opposition did not go on to say is: if you do not have international linking the cost per tonne of abatement is higher. Consequently to reach the bipartisan targets of five per cent, the cost per tonne of abatement paid under the opposition's policy would be greater than under the government's policy.

Mr Hunt interjecting —

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