Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I referred to the minister as the former climate change minister. She went on to say:

… and there is no point in imposing a carbon price domestically which results in emissions and production transferring internationally for no environmental gain.

These are not my words but the words of a current Labor government minister. If the Labor Party thought that this was such a good policy, why did they mislead the Australian people at the last election? The Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister is recorded as saying:

… certainly what we rejected is this hysterical allegation that somehow we are moving towards a carbon tax … We certainly reject that.

Well, under this carbon tax Australia will be at a competitive disadvantage to the world. Those causing the most pollution—China, India and the United States—have no plans to introduce economy-wide carbon taxes. Let us put this into perspective. Even if the carbon tax were 100 per cent effective, China's increase in emissions until 2020, just the increase alone, would be 100 times larger than the maximum amount that we could hope to reduce our emissions by. Members opposite have held up the European Union's emissions trading scheme as an example of what can be achieved. Yet the Australian Crime Commission has revealed that the European scheme has been rorted to the tune of $5 billion. That is not a model we need to emulate.

The Labor Party is embarking on a process that is more about wealth redistribution than environmentalism. The coalition has a plan, a direct action plan which is fully funded, which will not increase the burden on households, which is not going to unfairly increase the operating costs of small businesses and which will have a significant practical benefit for the environment. It is a plan that is costed and capped at $3.2 billion over the first four years.

We in the coalition are a party of action, of forward thinking and of practical solutions. Our solution is not to tax everyday Australians but to effectively and efficiently implement strategies which will deliver practical environmental action. Our plan will give Australians the chance to play their own part in positive change through direct action. It is a plan which will invest in solar renewable energies, green armies, an additional 20 million urban trees, soil carbon to replenish the land, cleaning up our dirtiest power stations and incentives for industries to reduce their emissions. Direct action will use incentives rather than penalties, funding the most cost efficient projects, staying within the government's means.

In opposing the Labor government's carbon tax, we on this side of the House are standing up for the locals in my electorate. We are standing up for those small businesses that will bear the brunt of this unfair tax. We are standing up for those families whose everyday costs are going to rise with this tax. In conclusion, I encourage those members opposite to also stand up for their communities and vote against this unfair carbon tax.

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