Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to get this question from the member for Dobell today, because today is a great day for Australian families and Australian businesses because the carbon tax has finally been abolished. It has taken the government a great struggle because of the opposition of the Leader of the Opposition to listening to the Australian public. The message from the Australian public at last year's election was that they wanted the carbon tax gone. Since the Copenhagen conference, since the collapse of those talks, every reputable published opinion poll has indicated that the Australian people do not support the job-destroying, price-increasing carbon tax.

If that were not enough, in the election last year the Australian public voted in a referendum to abolish the carbon tax. At the Griffith by-election they sent the message to the Labor Party again that they wanted the carbon tax gone by swinging to the coalition—the best swing to a government since 1984 in a by-election in an opposition seat.

See this speech in context