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

Thank you. This is starting to resemble a sort of catch-up hour for the opposition on details of a policy proposal that they have been running a fear campaign about for the best part of two years now. The government's policy on carbon pricing and heavy vehicles has been announced for a long period of time; and, yes, we do believe that heavy vehicles should be subject to a carbon price. There is absolutely nothing new in that.

What appears to be new from the opposition's questioning today is: one, they appear to be trying to inform themselves of the details of a scheme that they have been out actually arguing against. You would have thought a rational person, an intelligent person, a clever person, would study the policy proposition first and then work out whether they were opposed to it or in favour of it—clearly not this Leader of the Opposition. He decided to go out with the opposition first and he is just trying to understand it now.

Opposition members interjecting—

I speak to the nature of the interjections that have been coming across the dispatch box as all of this has been in progress, because those interjections have all been about other prices in other countries. Has the opposition today moved from its 'subsidy for polluters plan' back to saying that it supports an emissions trading scheme? Are we seeing a huge move by the opposition today? They are actually giving up their current policy and saying they support an emissions trading scheme. If they are saying that they support an emissions trading scheme with an internationally linked price, guess what? One is already legislated and one is going to come into existence. Thank you very much for finally coming around to supporting it and getting back into the same position you had under the leadership of Prime Minister John Howard. It is truly remarkable.

Then of course in terms of the backflips and lack of care of the opposition, the Leader of the Opposition has been on the record in the past, and I quote the Leader of the Opposition: 'I also think that, if you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with a simple tax? Why not ask motorists to pay more?' All motorists, all households, all families, all mums, all dads—the Leader of the Opposition may be embracing that again as part of his backflipping today.

Whilst the opposition wanders around on this topic, not sure what to do next, because the fear campaign is running out of puff, we will continue to get on with the job of reducing carbon pollution, of addressing dangerous climate change, of doing it in the cheapest possible way, of doing it in the way that responsible conservatives support. The Leader of the Opposition can stay there with his extreme position and try to sell that to the Australian people.

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