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

It is a long way away and still there. That is my point. It is a long way away and still there, despite what has been claimed about carbon pricing. We always said to small businesses like the one the member refers to that there would be an impact on electricity and we would anticipate that being passed through to consumers. We have also said that we are very concerned for those small businesses. The electricity price impacts, the bigger impacts, they are seeing coming from other sources, and we are working on that as we move towards the December Council of Australian Governments meeting. Because we care about businesses like the one the member refers to, we have put in place a broad range of new policies for small businesses, including the instant asset write-off—opposed every step of the way by the member who asked the question and the opposition.

See this speech in context