Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer my question without notice to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to comments of Chris Hind, the chief operating officer at regional airline Rex: 'The timing of the carbon tax could not be worse. Rex will be forced to close many marginal regional routes.' Treasurer, what compensation will the government be providing to businesses like Rex or will Rex simply have to raise airline ticket costs to stay in business?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have already addressed all of the issues associated with that question. When we have designed the emissions trading scheme we will announce all the details and then we will have a debate about its impact for business and households, its benefit to the country in the long term and the short term, and the fact that we are going to set this country up so we can prosper into the future with lower carbon growth absolutely critical to the future of this country although not understood by any of those opposite apparently.

Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I point specifically to the issue of relevance. I asked specifically what compensation will the government be providing to businesses like Rex.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! the Treasurer is responding to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have said the government is working its way through all these issues to design the scheme. We do that in good faith. We do it in the national interest. What this is all about from those opposite today is to cover over the very deep divisions that we have seen on their side of politics—deep divisions over tobacco, deep divisions over tax, deep divisions over climate change—which have been all too apparent out there in the papers day after day. That is what we have—a smokescreen to cover up for the fact there is no alternative economic policy and no vision for the future of the country whatsoever.