Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the risks to Kakadu National Park from climate change? Why did the Hawke government act in the face of a scare campaign and why is it important for the government to continue to act on climate change?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for her question. I know how keen she is to see us protect our environment and to see us have a clean energy economy for the future. And I think the Hansardshould record that her question about Kakadu National Park was met with jeers from the opposition, including, 'Who cares!'—who cares about Kakadu National Park. In this parliament, let me tell you who cares: the Australian people do. That is why, 20 years ago, Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke determined to add to the protections of Kakadu National Park, to add to the area of the park and to protect it from mining—a brave decision 20 years ago. That decision 20 years ago was trenchantly opposed by the opposition—by the Liberal Party and by the National Party. And, Mr Speaker, in words you might find eerily familiar, they were saying that they had to oppose this move by Prime Minister Bob Hawke because, unless they did so, the mining industry in this country would be dead. Those words are ringing in my ears: the mining industry in this country would be dead. They had to act to stop Bob Hawke protecting Kakadu because it would kill the mining industry. To use the words of the former opposition leader Alexander Downer, he went so far as to say, 'The decision'—believe it or not I am quoting this—'will do Australia irreparable damage in the mainstream of the capitalist world.' That is what protecting Kakadu National Park was going to do. It generated huge headlines: 'Coronation Hill to make or break the mining industry'.

Well, with the benefit of 20 years, let us just reflect on how accurate this fear campaign was. Let us just go through it. Are we damaged in the mainstream of the capitalist world because we protected Kakadu? I do not think so. Is the mining industry dead in this country because we protected Kakadu, with the most recent official figures saying there is more than $400 billion of investment in the pipeline? Here we stand 20 years later and here in my hands is a report about what could happen to Kakadu as a result of climate change. This is telling us that saltwater intrusion into Kakadu would change its ecology, would damage its tourism potential because you would not be able to get to all areas in parts of the year, would cut down on the amount of bush tucker that was available for Indigenous people and would also cut down on the tourism enterprises that they participate in. Twenty years later and here is this report on climate change and Kakadu.

As we go about addressing climate change, what do we hear again from the opposition? 'It is going to kill the mining industry. It is going to stop the Australian economy. It is going to stop jobs,' and so on and so forth. Twenty years gives you a bit of a perspective—a stupid scare campaign then and of course this is a stupid scare campaign now. In 20 years time people will look back on this Leader of the Opposition and those who sit behind him with the absolute wonderment and sense of disgust with which we look back now on the people who opposed protecting Kakadu.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister received any representations from the members for Corio and Corangamite about the impacts of a carbon tax on the 1,300 jobs at Ford in Geelong?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I can certainly tell him this: the member for Corangamite and the Corio are constantly talking to me about Ford in Geelong. They talked to me during the days of the global financial crisis.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The Prime Minister will resume her seat. The Prime Minister has the call and the Prime Minister will be heard in silence. The Prime Minister.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They talked to me during the days of the global financial crisis, when it was unbelievably pressing as to whether or not we would be able to save Australian jobs and to hold manufacturing in this country, particularly the manufacturing of cars. We could see what was happening around the world and we could see particularly what has happening in the United States, and both the members for Corio and Corangamite made representations to government about working with Ford and working with the car industry to protect Australian jobs. The Leader of the Opposition slept through all of the divisions on the enabling legislation to protect those jobs, so he did not care about it then. He was asleep—literally asleep—whilst we were protecting those Australian jobs.

The members for Corio and Corangamite have talked to me in the past about Work Choices.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. The Prime Minister was asked a very straightforward question about whether she had received representations about the carbon tax from those two members. She is specifically not answering that question.

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

The member for Sturt will resume his seat. The Prime Minister is aware of the obligations to directly relate her response to the question. She has the call. The Prime Minister.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, yes, the members do represent the interests of Ford and its workforce in this place. They represented it during the days of Work Choices when of course the Leader of the Opposition was out there defending pay cuts and out there defending people getting sacked unfairly, getting sacked for no reason at all. In those days the members for Corangamite and Corio were representing their community and fighting to get rid of Work Choices as the Leader of the Opposition fought to keep it. Of course, in this period of government, the members for Corangamite and Corio have raised with me a series of issues about Ford, including issues involving skills development at Ford. They have raised with me issues about manufacturing and the pressures from the strong Australian dollar. They have of course raised with me issues about climate change. And, for example, the Climate Commission has gone to Geelong. My recollection is that its first public meeting was in Geelong. The Climate Commission is out there talking to people about how we can address climate change. Of course the local members have been involved in all of these processes.

What I can say to the Leader of the Opposition is that those local members are doing what positive local members with a vision for the country do—that is, as we go about big policy changes like pricing carbon, they represent the interests of their constituents in those changes, the interests of their constituents in making sure we do the right thing to protect the environment, the interests of their constituents in making sure we cut carbon pollution and the interests of their constituents in making sure we act to protect Australian jobs, including jobs in manufacturing cars, as we make the transition to a clean energy future. But you can only properly represent your constituents if you come into this place with an idea and you pursue it. You can never represent the issues of your constituents or the nation properly if all you think leadership is is saying no.

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The honourable member for Corangamite has the call and he will be heard in silence.

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Will the minister outline the government's plan to introduce a price on carbon so Australia can move forward to a clean energy future at the least cost to our economy while providing generous support for households? How has this plan been received, and what is the government's response?

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Corangamite because he knows an awful lot more about representing working people than the Leader of the Opposition. I bet the Leader of the Opposition fought hard in the Howard cabinet against Work Choices!

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The House will come to order! Not all members are involved in the mayhem, and on behalf of those members I think the others should sit quietly so that the proceedings can actually be heard. The minister has the call; he should be heard in silence.

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This morning, 13 of Australia's most prominent economists, including the former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank and a number of financial market economists, came out strongly in support of a carbon price. In an open letter, the economists declared that a price on carbon pollution is 'a necessary and desirable structural reform of the Australian economy'. Westpac's Chief Economist, Bill Evans, who was a signatory to the letter, had this to say:

The move to more efficient, cleaner energy through a well designed market mechanism to price carbon is a major and desirable structural and economic reform which will help Australia competitively position in a global low carbon economy.

These are important and well-respected economists who are expressing what really should be obvious common economic sense. It is astonishing that this is a contested issue in national politics. The government is of course committed to taking action on climate change by introducing a carbon price, and we have made clear that more than half the revenue from the carbon price will be used to assist households—in particular, low- and middle-income households—with any price impacts they may face. As the Prime Minister has indicated, one option for delivering that household assistance is to provide tax cuts and increased payments to pensioners and others. Of course last night the Nationals Senate leader, Senator Joyce, confirmed that a coalition government would repeal any tax cuts, pension increases and household assistance measures provided under the carbon price. This is what Senator Joyce had to say:

... of course we've said from the outset that we would not introduce a tax and we'll repeal it if it comes in, and of course if you're repealing the tax, you're repealing the mechanisms that go with it.

Clear and unequivocal—Senator Joyce has confirmed that the coalition would in effect impose a double whammy on pensioners, on families and on ordinary householders. Firstly it would scrap the tax cuts, increases in the pension and increases in family payments introduced by the government, and secondly it would increase taxes by up to $720 a household—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop interjecting—

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

The member for Mackellar!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop interjecting—

The member for Mackellar is warned.

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to raise the money that it needs for its subsidies-for-polluters policy, which of course will pay billions of taxpayers' funds to the largest polluters in our economy. We have had today a range of expert economists from major banks, think tanks, universities and the financial services sector all backing the government's plan to price carbon. But the opposition have not been able to find one credible economist, not one at all, to back their subsidies-for-polluters policy. Their policy has no credibility whatsoever; it will simply impose a massive burden on Australian households.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister received any representations from the members for Throsby and Cunningham about the impact of a carbon tax on the 7,000 jobs at BlueScope Steel and Illawarra Coal?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members across the government raise with me all the time issues of interest to their constituents. You would expect that, and it occurs. But because it is the Leader of the Opposition who is asking the question we all know where this is going. He is going to keep pursuing his scare campaign about people's jobs. It is absolutely irresponsible of the Leader of the Opposition to keep pursuing this kind of scare campaign. Here he is today pursuing it again, trying to personalise it to individual electorates, but it is the same scare campaign.

I understand that as the Leader of the Opposition pursues his scare campaign he is making people anxious. I would say to those people who have heard his words and who have become anxious from those words: remember the scare campaigns past that came to nothing. I have pointed out one today about Kakadu—a scare campaign by the Liberal and National parties that came to nothing. I was in this parliament as the shadow minister responsible for our workplace relations campaigning during the days of Work Choices. Day after day they came into this place, including the Leader of the Opposition, saying that if one word of the Work Choices act were changed—just one word—then jobs in this country would go backwards, there would be more unemployment, growth would go backwards, we would end the mining industry and there would be no more investment. Let us look at the track record compared with those words.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, a point of order that goes to relevance: surely this cannot be related to the question she was asked.

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

The standing orders require the Prime Minister to directly relate her response to the question. She should keep that in mind.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The track record of that Work Choices scare campaign is now before all of us: 750,000 jobs created during a global financial crisis, half a million more to be created in the next two years and a boom in mining. Of course local members raise with me the situation of the steel industry. If the Leader of the Opposition was trying to tell anything like the truth, he would know that the truth for the Australian steel industry is that it is under pressure because of the high Australian dollar. The steel industry recorded losses last year and is looking at recording losses this year.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

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

The member for Sturt is warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is because of circumstances for the industry. The Leader of the Opposition cannot say that financial results from last year were somehow impacted by the government's plans to price carbon. Yes, it is a tough time in steel; yes, businesses have been losing money; yes, of course there is pressure from the high Australian dollar; and, yes, I listen to the views of the local members who represent the steel industry in this place when we talk about how we can support the steel industry.

I also say to the Leader of the Opposition that his gross irresponsibility is to pretend that those real issues for steel are something to do with carbon pricing. It is actually contemptuous of the workers in steel and contemptuous of the Australian steel industry. I am sure that the people who represent steel in this place will be going back to their electorates to make that perfectly clear. He could not care less; it is just fodder for his fear campaign.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister prepared to visit the workers at BlueScope Steel to talk about a carbon tax, as I have? Is she prepared to visit the workers at Geelong to talk about a carbon tax, as I have? And is she prepared to visit the workers at OneSteel at Laverton—in her own electorate—to talk about the carbon tax, as I have?

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

Mr Melham interjecting—

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

Order! The member for Banks and the member for Bradfield might end up having a cup of tea outside. We might have to sell tickets for that one. The House will come to order.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will continue to do what I have done every day I have been in this parliament, which is to visit workplaces and to talk to working people. The difference between me and the Leader of the Opposition is that I have always viewed it as an obligation and a responsibility as a Labor Party member—as someone who wants to represent the interests of working people in this place—to visit workplaces and to talk to working people about their concerns. The Leader of the Opposition never discovered a working person until he thought they would be good for picture opportunities for his fear campaign.

Mr Tony Smith interjecting—

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

The member for Casey is warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When he moves on, in the future, beyond this fear campaign after we price carbon, we will never see him with another working person again.

Mr Ewen Jones interjecting—

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

The member for Herbert is warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not remember seeing him with too many working people when he was rejoicing in their pay being cut under Work Choices. I do not remember seeing him with too many working people when he said it was fair that they could be dismissed for no reason at all. I do not remember seeing him with too many working people when we were doing everything we could to save Australian jobs.

Mr Christensen interjecting—

Mr Danby interjecting—

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

The member for Dawson and the member for Melbourne Ports are warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He was so lacking in interest about saving Australian jobs that he slept through the critical piece of legislation to get the money into the economy to save their jobs. The only time the Leader of the Opposition has ever shown the slightest interest in the fortunes of working people was when he thought it would be in his political interest. This is so transparent it is painful. This is a man who has never cared about job security—a man who advocated workers getting dismissed unfairly, a man who cared so little about their jobs that he slept through the divisions to support their jobs during the global financial crisis, a man who never cared at all about working people—now trying to pretend he is the battler's friend. Give me a break.