Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is directed to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his previous answer when he claimed Xtrata was treated as an emissions intensive trade exposed industry under his emissions trading scheme. I note that Xtrata is not treated as an emissions intensive trade exposed industry under the CPRS, and nor is most of the rest of the coal industry, and therefore it will receive no free permits. If the Prime Minister does not understand his own ETS and claims a company is an emissions intensive trade exposed industry under the scheme when it is not, who does understand the scheme and when will he tell us what its impact on jobs will be?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member would be aware that the scheme which has been put forward by the government, for which the draft legislation has been already circulated, has elements within it which deal with the emissions intensive trade exposed sector. Also it deals with the household sector. On top of that it also deals with the electricity sector. On top of that we have also established a Climate Change Action Fund. The honourable member should be aware of the fact that the Climate Change Action Fund has within it a range of substreams for which various sectors of the economy are able to apply—one of which relates to parts of the coal industry as well. The honourable member would be familiar with that if he were familiar with the legislation. I would draw his attention to it. I would also suggest to the honourable member that what the Australian people expect of the alternative government of this country is consistency on climate change, consistency on emissions trading, con-sistency on economic stimulus and consistency on Work Choices, rather than a party which makes it up every day as it goes along.