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

I thank the shadow Treasurer for this question, because putting in place an emissions trading scheme is the least cost, most efficient way of reducing carbon pollution. We know that; that is the recommendation of virtually every expert inquiry conducted anywhere in the world. As the Prime Minister was saying before, we have opted for a fixed price in the early stages of the scheme, a fixed price to provide certainty and a fixed price to provide predictability. We are already seeing the outcome of that process: a significant reduction in emissions.

What all of these questions really boil down to is that those opposite are so embarrassed by their direct action scheme they have to come out and somehow try to discredit an emissions trading scheme. Their scheme will cost the average Australian household $1,200 a year because what they have decided to do is to tax individuals—

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