Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to say to the Leader of the Opposition that climate change is real, humanity makes a difference, and it is very important for government to put in place strong and effective policies to deal with it. But I do suggest to the Leader of the Opposition that this is a report that should provide the foundation for an intelligent and sensible national conversation on how we do the right thing by our country. That is what we need. We need an intelligent and sensible conversation about how we do the right thing by our country by tackling the real problems that we face. That is what we should do.

The Intergenerational report has been prepared by the experts in Treasury. The Intergenerational report just has facts, and the facts are not Labor, the facts are not Liberal, the facts are not National, the facts are not Green—facts are facts. What we must do as a nation is deal with the facts of the problems and the opportunities that we have, and that is precisely what this government is doing. We are dealing with the facts and we are dealing with the challenges and the opportunities that we face. I am very proud to lead a government which has faced up to reality and already, thanks to the policies that we have proposed and that this parliament has supported, the debt and deficit problem which we inherited has been halved.

I understand that there might be a temptation on the part of member's opposite to go scouring through this document looking for political ammunition. There might be a temptation to scour this document to try to score political points. But I think we have seen the better angels of the Leader of the Opposition on a lot of subjects lately, and I am confident that this parliament is better than that. We can make serious efforts to address our nation's problems, and we will address them better if we can do it in a bipartisan spirit.

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