Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question again is to the Prime Minister and it refers to his previous answer when he said that no decision had been made on a taxpayer funded letter to Australian households on climate change. Can the Prime Minister confirm that a first assistant secretary of the Department of the Environment and Water Resources told Senate estimates yesterday that a draft of the Prime Minister’s climate change households letter had, in fact, already been produced for market testing and, further, that a mock-up of the brochure had been produced for market testing as well?

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

That is in no way inconsistent with the answer I have given. While we are in righteous indignation about government advertising, may I draw the attention of all members of the House to page 7 of the Australian newspaper today.

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

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It was a very clear question. It went to whether what the Prime Minister said did not exist is, in fact, being market tested, funded for by Australian taxpayers.

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

The Prime Minister was asked a question which he is referring to in his answer. I call the Prime Minister. He is entirely in order.

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

I was very careful in the answer I gave. Everything that I have said was absolutely true. Let me tell the House—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The level of interjections is far too high. The Prime Minister will be heard or I will take action.

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

Let me inform the House that, under the heading ‘Clean coal for the future’, a full-page ad has been taken out by the Queensland government. Given the announcement that was made by the Leader of the Opposition three days ago about the policy of a future Labor government, I look forward to his public denunciation of this advertisement of what the Queensland Premier has done. This cannot by any semblance of the imagination be justified as anything other than a blatant political advertisement. All the Queensland government are doing is announcing the expenditure of money. They are not explaining a new law. They are not telling the citizens of Queensland what their obligations are under this new law. It reads:

In an historic agreement the Queensland Government and the coal industry have announced a massive investment to ensure the future of our State’s vital coal industry, and the jobs it creates.

That is just pure political propaganda. Yet we have a deafening silence from the man who sits opposite. I look forward to the Leader of the Opposition attacking the Queensland Premier for wasting the money of the taxpayers of Queensland. This is a blatant example of the double standards of the Australian Labor Party on this issue.