Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah moving immediately—That this House calls on the Prime Minister to apologise because in breaking her promise not to introduce a carbon tax she is compounding the world’s highest electricity prices with the world’s biggest carbon tax.

Standing orders must be suspended because the election in Queensland on Saturday will be a referendum on the Prime Minister's carbon tax. It will be a referendum on political leaders who do not tell the truth. It will be a referendum on political leaders without honour and principle. That is why standing orders should be suspended. This Prime Minister should not scurry out of the chamber to hide in the whip's office. She should face this chamber; she should face this motion. The voters of Queensland will be passing judgment on her tax and her government as well as on Premier Bligh and the Queensland government. This is why standing orders should be suspended.

Standing orders should be suspended because Australians pay the world's highest power prices already. Our power prices are 70 per cent higher than those in the United States. They are 130 per cent higher than those in Canada. And it is going to get much worse under the Prime Minister's carbon tax, which she will not defend in this parliament. She scurried out to hide in the whip's office rather than stay to defend her carbon tax in this parliament on the eve of the Queensland election.

The Energy Users Association—and this is why standing orders must be suspended—told us this week that power prices had already risen by 40 per cent. They are your constituents, Madam Deputy Speaker, and they have paid 40 per cent more on the power bills every quarter since this government came into office. Now those bills are going to rise by another 20 per cent under the carbon tax thanks to this Prime Minister, who is too frightened to face the parliament on this subject. That is why standing orders should be suspended.

This Prime Minister is making a bad situation worse with a carbon tax based on a lie. The voters of Queensland know that six days before the last election this Prime Minister said, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' The voters of Queensland know that. They have not forgotten; they remember. And this Prime Minister has not forgotten, either—that is why she is hiding out in the whip's office rather than facing this motion for the suspension of standing orders, which should take priority over all other business in this House.

The situation of the consumers of Queensland is getting desperate and it will only get worse because of this government's carbon tax. Already the consumers of Queensland pay power prices that are higher than those in every single country in the European Union. The consumers of Queensland pay power prices that are higher than those in every single state of the United States. And it is going to get much worse under the carbon tax which this Prime Minister said would never happen under the government that she leads. That is why standing orders should be suspended.

The Prime Minister says that it is all right, because people want a clean energy future. Tell that to the pensioners of Queensland facing a 20 per cent increase in their power bills. Tell that to the people who ride the bus, who are facing an increase in their fares. Tell that to the ratepayers of Queensland facing an increase in their rates. Supposedly, it is all about a clean energy future. It is not. If you look at the government's modelling, under the government's carbon tax, our emissions are 578 million tonnes a year and are projected to be 621 million tonnes a year with the carbon tax. So electricity prices go up by 20 per cent and emissions go up too. What a completely fraudulent statement that is from the Prime Minister. That is why standing orders must be suspended.

It is all very well for the Prime Minister to come into this parliament and play the class war card. The people of Queensland want real answers and they want good policies. They want to get rid of this carbon tax and that is why standing orders must be suspended. The Prime Minister comes into this parliament and, yes, we know her words attack billionaires—people who succeed—but her policies attack the decent, ordinary families of Queensland. Her policies attack the forgotten families of Queensland and aren't they waiting to pass judgment? Their baseball bats are not there for Anna Bligh; their baseball bats are there for the Prime Minister hiding out in the whips office. That is why standing orders must be suspended.

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