Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for McEwen for his question, because the facts are extremely important. We have heard how, in private, many of those opposite understand the facts and they make investments—they put their money where they really think things are going. They do not listen to the investment advice from the Leader of the Opposition.

The facts are that under a carbon price Australia's economy will continue to grow, and it will continue to grow strongly. There will be 1.6 million extra jobs over the next eight years, and income per person will increase by $9,000—all with a carbon price in place, all as we are helping nine out of 10 households with assistance through our household assistance package, and all while we are supporting jobs and the competitiveness of the economy with the program we have put in place to support businesses in the emissions-intensive and trade-exposed part of the economy.

But of course, some people in this place still prefer a world of fiction. The Leader of the Opposition has been running around the country with his own special horror story, predicting doom and gloom. He has predicted the death of Gladstone, the death of the Latrobe Valley, the death of Portland, the death of the Hunter region—Illawarra, Kwinana, Whyalla, and the story goes on.

A government member: He's been everywhere, man!

It reminds you a bit of the old Lucky Starr song from the 1960s, I've Been Everywhere. You know, 'Cabramatta, Parramatta, Wangaratta, Coolangatta'—but the punchline is, 'everywhere is doomed, man'. That is what he is—getting around, Lucky Starr, 'everywhere is doomed', it has all gone. But the fact of the matter is interest rates are coming down, unemployment is under five per cent, inflation is under control, private investment is at record levels, we have a AAA credit rating, a low debt-to-GDP ratio, budget surpluses across the forward estimates. But this does not stop the Leader of the Opposition.

He predicts the death of manufacturing, the death of the auto industry, the death of mining, the death of the coal industry, the death of the nickel industry, unimaginable cost increases, unimaginable power price increases, apples, fruit, mincemeat, chops, T-bone steaks—all out of reach; there is no way anyone will be able to buy anything. There is doom for families, doom for pensioners, older people, younger people, babies, the middle-aged—they are all doomed. And none of it is true. No-one over on that side of the House believes him either. No-one believes him. They put their money where they think the markets are really going. His whole campaign is a complete fraud. As 1 July approaches he is going to get more and more desperate, because he will have no credibility left. (Time expired)

See this speech in context