House debates
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Questions without Notice
Carbon Pricing
2:16 pm
Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is again to the Prime Minister. I refer her to her statement during the election, when announcing a citizens’ assembly, that action on climate change ‘must have as its foundation the genuine political support of the community’. Given the Prime Minister’s unequivocal promise that there would be no carbon tax under any government she led, wouldn’t a Prime Minister of integrity seek a mandate at the next election before departing from her commitment not to introduce a carbon tax?
Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Once again the Leader of the Opposition forgets what he said yesterday. The Leader of the Opposition comes into this parliament every day and, because he is a hollow person of no consistent beliefs, he believes that he can come into this parliament and say something today and not be held to account for what he said yesterday. The Leader of the Opposition should reflect that in the period of the parliament between 2007 and 2010, when the Leader of the Opposition was adopting different climate change position after different climate change position, when the member for Wentworth was writing of his embarrassment at the political hollowness and weathervane politics of the Leader of the Opposition, in all of those twists and turns of inconsistent statements, the Leader of the Opposition said that he accepted the government had a mandate to price carbon.
We went to the 2007 election campaign saying we would price carbon. Here is some news for the Leader of the Opposition, who seems to think that everybody has forgotten yesterday: so did Prime Minister John Howard go to the 2007 election promising to price carbon.
Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The Prime Minister seems to believe that the words ‘carbon tax’ are unparliamentary. Are they unparliamentary?
Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! There is no point of order.
Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! Some of those on my right, on the back benches, who are inviting me to take action against the member for Flinders, might think about that when they are interrupting proceedings in the way that they do. The House would do well, to both the left and the right, if they sat there in silence. The Prime Minister has the call.
Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I am a bit surprised that the member for Flinders would come to the dispatch box. He has caused me to ponder whether, if you walk away from your honours thesis, you get your honours degree stripped off you? I think someone needs to answer that question for us, because his honours thesis makes very good reading. I happen to have extracts of it here. He said:
… the market is the preferable regime as it better ensures that the polluter bears full responsibility for the cost of his or her conduct.
Good words. He wrote:
Businesses’ greatest concern, according to the Liberal Party, is the need to have a certainty which would enable them to plan for the long term.
I could not have written it better myself. I am glad he got first-class honours. I am a bit ashamed he is walking away from it now. In answer to the Leader of the Opposition’s question, the Leader of the Opposition well knows that the Labor Party went to the 2007 election saying we would price carbon with an emissions trading scheme.
Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! The Prime Minister will resume her seat until the House comes to order.
Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr Abbott interjecting
Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mrs Mirabella interjecting
Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Indi! The Prime Minister has the call.
Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Prime Minister Howard went to the 2007 election saying he would price carbon through an emissions trading scheme. I went to the 2010 election saying I would price carbon through an emissions trading scheme. We, at the 2010 election, said to the Australian people: we believe climate change is real, we believe it is a caused by human activity, we believe in order to tackle climate change you need to price carbon and we believe the most efficient mechanism for doing that is an emissions trading scheme. What I announced last week will be an emissions trading scheme, a market based mechanism, a permanent system, with a fixed price for the first three to five years. The Leader of the Opposition raises with me community consensus and community debate. Let me assure the Leader of the Opposition—
Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Ms Julie Bishop interjecting
Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is warned!
Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
we will be out there in every community across the country advocating the need to price carbon and exposing his hollow, phoney, sham fear campaign for exactly what it is.
Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Go out there and sell it!
2:22 pm
Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Prime Minister. Why is pricing carbon important for business certainty; and what would be the impact for business of rolling back a legislated carbon price?
Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I thank the member for Parramatta for her question. Of course, she understands the need for certainty, having been a small business person herself and because she is in touch with her local business community. I think it will amaze people who are watching this parliament today that the Liberal Party, of all political parties, think that business certainty is something to laugh about. They would prefer economic chaos, in their modern incarnation under this Leader of the Opposition. In pricing carbon we will be providing businesses with certainty. We need to convert our economy to a clean energy economy for the future. By world standards, we are very big emitters of carbon pollution—the biggest emitters per capita in the developed world, with 27 tonnes of carbon pollution per person. That is more than the United States and it is significantly more than the per capita emissions of places like China and India.
What we need to do is price carbon to give business certainty. Let me refer to the words of Brad Page, of the Energy Supply Association, who knows about the need for investment in energy generation. People who are genuinely concerned about rising energy costs for Australian families should listen to these words:
Uncertain greenhouse gas emission policy adversely impacts on new energy supply decisions …
An equitable and enduring greenhouse gas emissions price signal is required to promote investor confidence, deliver greenhouse gas abatement and reward the uptake of new low-emission technologies.
Industry is crying out for certainty—crying out for certainty. I look over at the member for Groom because he is a man who, in the past, has talked about the need for business certainty. He said it in the following words—these are the words of the member for Groom:
What I hear from small business is that they want certainty. They want to know where they are going to be in 12 months time.
He also said that they said to him, and this was about the GST:
What we don’t want is roll-back. We do not want roll-back. It will complicate our business. It will mean wholesale changes. It will mean wave after wave of reform.
Never a truer word was spoken about the consequences for businesses if they fear a loss of certainty, if they do not know what is going to happen next. The Leader of the Opposition himself once supported business certainty. In July last year, he said business ‘deserves certainty’. Again in July last year, he said:
… I think what business needs is a period of certainty and stability.
But today he was on morning television, proudly saying in answer to a question about business certainty:
Well, completely up in the air and with no certainty.
That is his vision of the Australian economy.
Let us be very clear about what this loss of business sense of certainty will mean. It will trash Australia’s reputation around the world as a safe place to invest. It will strand investments that people have made on the basis of a carbon price. It will cost jobs. It will rip out of the hands of householders money supplied to them that they are relying on to meet the costs of living. It will leave Australia a poorer place. The right strategy is to ensure we have the clean energy jobs of the future. We will do that by pricing carbon, despite the fear campaign, despite the campaign of uncertainty.
Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr Speaker, on a point of order: is it in order for the opposition to conduct ballots for whatever position it is during question time, or can they do it at other times, because it creates disorderly conduct?
Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! There are one or two that are collecting ballots that at least are quiet, and I am glad the member for New England and the member for McMillan are not standing in the aisles conferencing! They could do that outside.
Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr Ewen Jones interjecting
Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The members for Mitchell, Herbert, and I will include Hughes because they are starting to be a bit of bad trio, will sit there quietly.