Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I wonder where Richard Torbay has got to! I have been asked a question by the Leader of the National Party about carbon pricing, which I find slightly ironic given that those opposite do not believe in carbon pricing. They certainly do not believe in an international price for carbon. So let's just dispense with that hypocrisy. Those opposite are people who will sell this country right down the drain by taking carbon pricing out of our system, which is going to deliver to this country an economic prosperity for decades to come, because you cannot be a first-class, First World economy in the 21st century unless you are efficient in the way in which you use carbon and the way in which you price it. So we on this side of the House make absolutely no apology for putting in place this very, very important reform.

As the member knows, carbon prices depend on a range of factors, including global action and broader economic conditions, and of course there has been variance in the international price and the European price over time. International carbon prices in the four years to July 2011 traded at a range of $14 to $50. We will do what those opposite never do: we will update our budget in the normal way in May within the Charter of Budget Honesty. Those opposite have repudiated the Peter Costello Charter of Budget Honesty. They have not in five years presented one costed and funded policy before this parliament. However, after the last election they were found to have, after they ignored the Charter of Budget Honesty, an $11 billion hole in their budget bottom line, and they have got the hide to come in here and ask about fiscal responsibility and budgeting.

The fact is that those opposite have got at least a $70 billion hole in their budget bottom line and they have a plan to slash and burn when it comes to health and education, just like Campbell Newman did. And they want to use the same approach as the LNP in Queensland. They will have a commission of audit, they will hide the truth from the people, they will go to the election and, if they are elected, suddenly the commission of audit will appear, run by someone like Peter Costello, and the next thing you know is that billions and billions of dollars are cut from health and education, and jobs are down the drain.

See this speech in context