Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer to comments by the Secretary of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency yesterday in which he forecast that the carbon price would escalate in line with international carbon prices. Given that the European carbon price is forecast to rise to up to $80 a tonne by 2020, can the Treasurer confirm that an $80 a tonne carbon price would force household electricity bills up by $900 a year and petrol prices up by 20c a litre?

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

They are simply making it up, yet again. They are trying to peddle fear. They are making it up because they are so acutely embarrassed by the fact that they have all been exposed as climate change deniers. That is why we are seeing this fear campaign. We are seeing a fear campaign because they do not believe that climate change is a problem for our country. Their leader is now exposed. He has not got the character, he has not got the conviction and he has not got the toughness to actually provide a policy alternative in this House. So what do we see?

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Clearly the question was about the price increases forecast by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency yesterday. The Treasurer is straying right off into personal invective.

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

Order! The member for Murray will resume her seat. The Treasurer should directly relate his material to the question. The Treasurer has the call.

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

I was directly relating my material to the question. What we have here is a scare campaign because those opposite are so embarrassed by the fact that the Liberal Party and National Party in this House are now run and dominated by climate change deniers. The consequence of that is that they are not up to the task of putting in place the policies our country needs to secure our prosperity for the future.

What we have is an opposition leader who is simply a hollow man, and he is backed up by a shadow Treasurer who is simply the same. We have a shadow Treasurer over there who once believed in the science of climate change, but no longer. He is so bereft of any conviction that he has to put out a message on Twitter asking people what he should think. That is the lack of conviction of the shadow Treasurer and the Leader of the Opposition. They have all become climate change deniers.

I notice that the member for Wentworth is sitting there embarrassed at the performance of all of those on the front bench and of the members behind him because he belled the cat on their so-called direct action policy.

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

Order! The Treasurer will directly relate his remarks and bring his answer to a conclusion.

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

I am bringing my answer to a conclusion—

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The Treasurer has the call. I have given him a direction. He will conclude.

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

This is the same scare campaign that we saw during the global financial crisis. This is what the shadow Treasurer had to say then. Mr Hockey said:

… 300,000 Australians are going to lose their jobs in its first term.

That is what he said about the government during the global financial crisis. Well, what happened? We now have another example of a scare campaign. All this is about is that they no longer believe in the science of climate change and are not up to the task of putting forward an alternative policy for Australia.