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

If, as I do, you believe we need to cut carbon pollution—and that is bipartisan politics in this parliament—then you have got to work out how to do it. The cheapest, most effective way to do it is to put a price on carbon.

Then, having put a price on carbon, you need to support Australian families as they go about their daily work, including Australian families as they go about paying their power bills. We have determined to do just that, to make sure that we use money that flows from a price being paid by companies that are generating carbon pollution to support Australian families, including the Queensland families that the member refers to. So, looking at an average family, they will receive assistance of more than $500 a year to deal with impacts flowing from putting a price on carbon. Many families in fact will end up with more assistance through tax cuts or family payments or pension increases than they need—that is, they will end up in front as a result of the government's scheme.

To the member who asked the question, I simply ask him to contemplate the alternative. He himself is a member of a political party committed to reducing carbon pollution by five per cent by 2020. I ask him: why does he want to do that in a way that is more costly for Queensland families? Why does he want to reject the advice of former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard about the most cost-effective way to do this? Like the Leader of the Opposition, he is committed to sending those families a $1,300 bill.

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