Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I'm asked about energy policy and electricity prices by the Leader of the Opposition. I can assure him of one thing. This government will not introduce a carbon tax. But it's not so clear when it comes to the Labor Party. The shadow Attorney-General was asked by Laura Jayes today on Sky:

Will you have some form of carbon tax?

He said:

Well, obviously not. That’s not part of the policy.

She went on:

Are you ruling it out though?

He said:

I’m not going to rule it in or I’m not going to rule it out.

'I'm not going to play that game,' Mr Speaker! The Australian people have heard from the Labor Party about carbon taxes before. Even when they ruled them out they introduced them, as Julia Gillard did the carbon tax that would never be introduced, the carbon tax that they did introduce. It was the carbon tax that our government abolished when we came into government in 2013.

What the Leader of the Opposition doesn't understand is the difference between two numbers. Our government has a responsible emissions reduction target of 26 per cent, meeting our commitments—

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

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