Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister’s attention been drawn to a plan by Labor state governments, endorsed by the federal opposition, to introduce an emissions trading scheme? Prime Minister, what will the impact of this scheme be on different parts of Australia?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To get to the second part of the question first, it will have a devastating impact on the state of Queensland, and it is already apparent from the reaction of the Premier of Western Australia that he understands the impact—

Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. I draw your attention to page 538 of House of Representatives Practice, which makes it clear that a question about a specific policy of another party has not been allowed by previous occupants of the chair. I ask you to rule this question out of order.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Prospect. I listened carefully to the question. It certainly asked the Prime Minister about an impact on federal matters. The Prime Minister is in order. The question is in order.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My attention has been drawn to the plan, and I heard the Premier of New South Wales and the Premier of South Australia waxing lyrical about the plan on radio this morning. What the Labor states want and what the federal opposition wants is a European modelled emissions trading scheme starting in 2010. It has the long-term goal of reducing emissions by 60 per cent by the year 2050. It will involve a $12 to $14 carbon tax, higher electricity bills and a 37 per cent reduction in coal-fired power generation. Electricity generators and gas pipelines around Australia will be the first targeted, and additional sectors will be added over time.

The hardest hit states under this plan will be the resource-exporting states of Queensland and Western Australia. Workers will see their jobs disappear and jobs exported to other parts of the world. States like South Australia that are reliant on drawing electricity from the national grid will be even more exposed. The analysis to be released by the states today indicates that, under Labor’s proposal, retail electricity prices in Darwin will rise by nearly $200 a year, wholesale prices in Western Australia in each year are expected to be on average 40 per cent higher and states such as Tasmania that have a higher relative use of electricity will have higher relative increases in power bills.

These proposals very closely echo the proposals of the Leader of the Opposition in his various blueprint speeches delivered last year and this year, which involve cutting emissions by 60 per cent by the year 2050, ratifying Kyoto, setting mandated emissions target reductions and establishing a national emissions trading scheme.

According to ABARE, a 50 per cent cut in Australian emissions by 2050 would lead to a 10 per cent fall in GDP, a 20 per cent fall in real wages, a carbon price equivalent to a doubling of petrol prices, and a staggering 600 per cent rise in electricity and gas prices. These are not the calculations of my office. They are not the calculations of the federal secretariat of the Liberal Party. They are the calculations of the Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, a very respected federal government body.

So, to borrow a phrase that is beloved by the Queensland Premier, let me say to Mr Beattie: why don’t you stand up for Queensland? Why don’t you stand up for jobs in the coal industry in Queensland? And why don’t you tell your Labor mates in New South Wales and South Australia that you are not going to have any truck with a proposal that would cripple the resource industry in Queensland, export jobs from that great state and impose unbearable, higher petrol prices on Australians at a time when we face the prospect of even higher fuel prices?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware of comments made by the Treasurer on 18 January this year in relation to emissions trading in which he said:

A market based solution will give the right signal to producers and to consumers. It will make clear the opportunity cost of using energy resources, thereby encouraging more and better investment in additional sources of supply and improving the efficiency with which they are used. That has to be good for both producers and consumers and better for the environment.

Does the Prime Minister agree with these comments? Is this why the Treasurer and the then environment minister took to cabinet in 2003 a proposal to establish a market based national emissions trading scheme for greenhouse gases?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am aware of those comments made by the Treasurer and, like all the other comments the Treasurer makes, they make a great deal of sense.

Opposition Members:

Not all of them.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left!

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They do. My colleague the Treasurer makes very sensible remarks on national economic management. But there are two very crucial things—

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne!

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

about the Treasurer’s position that the member for Grayndler did not acknowledge. Firstly, the Treasurer, unlike the party of the member for Grayndler, was not advocating a carbon tax. I know the Labor Party loves taxes but the Treasurer was not advocating a carbon tax. I also know that the Treasurer’s views on this matter are within context—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne is warned!

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

at least and until we have a protocol throughout the world that includes all of the major emitters, and that means the inclusion of countries such as China, the United States and India. Until we have all the major emitters, one country unilaterally embracing an emissions trading scheme will result in great damage to that country. The reason we will not sign Kyoto is that, if we were to sign, we would accept burdens under the protocol that would not apply to our competitors, such as China and Indonesia. We would export jobs, and that is my point.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order that goes to relevance. This was a question about emissions trading—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will resume his seat.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question was about emissions trading, Mr Speaker.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will resume his seat and I will rule on his point of order. The member for Grayndler asked a lengthy question that covered quite a number of related areas. The Prime Minister is answering the substance of the question. I call the Prime Minister.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For a country such as Australia, which is almost unique in the sense of being a developed country that is a net exporter of energy, to embrace the sorts of strictures, penalties and burdens being advocated by the opposition without—

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order on relevance. This is about emissions trading, and this proposition of the Treasurer is exactly what was proposed in our blueprint.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the Leader of the Opposition that this was a wide-ranging question and the Prime Minister is responding to the substance of it. I call the Prime Minister.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What the Labor Party wants is for a resource-rich country such as Australia to agree to an arrangement that would result in the export of investment and jobs from this country. What this government will not tolerate—

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Has the Prime Minister concluded his answer?

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Has he concluded his answer? No. Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. There is an explicit question here about emissions trading. The Treasurer’s position is the Labor Party’s position—exactly the same.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. Again I remind the Leader of the Opposition that the Prime Minister was asked a lengthy question and he is responding to the substance of that question. I call the Prime Minister.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The more the Leader of the Opposition interjects the more he proclaims his sensitivity on this issue. What Labor stands for is a policy that would export resource jobs from states like Queensland to other countries. I want to say on behalf of this government that, while ever we have control of policies in this area, we are not going to sell out the Australian resource sector and we are not going to sell out the workers in the resource industry. We are going to stand up for the resource industries in Queensland and Western Australia, because they are contributing great wealth to this nation.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will resume his seat. Has the Prime Minister concluded his answer?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has concluded his answer.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Speaker, and I am seeking the call.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The next question will be going to the government.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand that; I am seeking the call.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the member for Grayndler raising a point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table the Treasurer’s speech entitled ‘Energy security in the Asia Pacific region’, made on 18 January 2006 in Los Angeles, endorsing our policy.

Leave granted.