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

I seek leave to move a motion of censure against this government.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah moving immediately—That this House censures the Government for deceiving the Australian people by bringing in a carbon tax that is nothing more than a bad tax built on a lie.

We know that this is a bad tax built on a lie because what else have we been hearing for months now from this Prime Minister. This Prime Minister has said day in, day out in this House that this carbon tax will make the 1,000 biggest polluters pay. What have we got today? The great disappearing carbon tax. All of a sudden it is not 1,000 it is just 500—shades of the East Timor boat people solution, shades of the climate change people's convention. This is a Prime Minister that cannot get her story straight from one day to the next. This is a Prime Minister who simply cannot be trusted with a new tax. This is the government of pink batts. This is the government of school halls. This is the government of boat arrivals one after another, day after day, and now this government wants the Australian people to trust it. The most incompetent government in Australian history wants the Australian people to trust it with the most complex change in Australian history. They will get it wrong on Sunday, just as they have got it wrong day in, day out in this House since February of this year. Standing orders must be suspended because this government must be censured.

This is a bad tax based on a lie. It is all economic pain for no environmental gain. The biggest lie of all—the Prime Minister can turn her back on me, but she cannot turn her back on the Australian people. She can turn her back on me and pretend to be interested in the conversation of her colleagues but, I tell you what, she does not talk to her colleagues about the design of a carbon tax. She does not talk to any of them about the design of the carbon tax. She does not even talk to the Treasurer, who just yesterday thought it was still 1,000 big companies. What an embarrassment! We have got a Prime Minister who lied about the carbon tax before the election, who cannot get her story straight in this parliament, who runs away from the people at an election, who will not face the people at a plebiscite, who will not face questions in this parliament and now she turns her back. How childish, how immature, how cowardly is this Prime Minister?

This is a bad tax based on a lie, but it is not just the lie six days out from the election, the whole argument for a carbon tax is lie after lie after lie. She says that we have got to have a carbon tax to keep up with the rest of the world—wrong, just a lie, a lie that has been nailed by no less an authority than the Productivity Commission, which says there is no country in the world, not one, that is imposing an economy-wide carbon tax or emissions trading scheme. Answer that question, Prime Minister. You can shuffle the papers all you like, but answer this question, Prime Minister: what do you think of the Productivity Commission's statement that there is no country on earth—

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

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will refer his remarks through the chair.

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

I say through you, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister should answer this question: what does she think of the Productivity Commission's statement that there is no country on earth, not one, which is imposing an economy-wide carbon tax or emissions trading scheme? Answer that question, Prime Minister, because that is the question—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: The Leader of the Opposition continues to defy your ruling and it was the Leader of the Opposition who suspended question time. He cannot then, during a suspension motion—

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

The Leader of the House will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition will refer his remarks through the chair. I remind him that this is a motion for the suspension of standing and sessional orders and that is what we are debating.

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

We must suspend standing and sessional orders because we have got to get a few answers finally from this Prime Minister. This Prime Minister has been consistently running away from the parliament of this country. Let me remind the Prime Minister of her own words just a few months ago to the National Press Club:

I believe Australians want greater scrutiny of their government and greater accountability to parliament.

It is not just the pre-election lie, what about the post-election lie?

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

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will be very careful in the use of the expression 'lie' in making an accusation. I know that he has put it in his motion and the motion, if sessional and standing orders are suspended, will be in order, but the accusation of lying needs another device of this place. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

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

Mr Speaker, I accept your point, but I simply make this point in response to the Prime Minister: how can this Prime Minister look the Australian people in the face, how can this Prime Minister expect to be taken seriously, when she said to them at the National Press Club on 31 August:

I believe Australians want greater scrutiny of their government and greater accountability to parliament.

This is a Prime Minister who has not just run away from the people but run away from this parliament. This is a Prime Minister who day after day after day in this House runs away from parliamentary scrutiny and now she is refusing parliamentary scrutiny of the biggest structural change this country has ever been asked to make. This government is in deep, deep trouble, and why wouldn't it be in trouble, because a carbon tax only works if it hurts. This tax is going to hurt every single Australian, and members opposite know it. That is why they look so happy. Don't they look so happy, Mr Speaker? Don't they look so cheerful every time the Prime Minister gets up and gives us another one of these long exercises in pollie waffle and robo speak?

Finally, on Sunday, members opposite are going to get the bad news. This is a government by teleconference. That is what we are going to get—the 103 Labor members of parliament are going to ring up and get the recorded message: 'If you are a Labor member of parliament, press 1 and get a recorded message from the Prime Minister; if you are a Green member of parliament, press 2 and the Prime Minister will talk to you directly.' That is all she ever does. She talks directly to the Greens all the time.

We have had bad government in this country. We had bad government before the last election because we had a gang of four—the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was then the Prime Minister, and the former member for Melbourne. That gang of four gave us pink batts and school halls. Now what have we got? We have got the gang of six. We have got the Prime Minister, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, two Greens senators and two Independents. The gang of six is just as bad at process as the gang of four was. Bad process gives us bad government. Bad government is the result of bad process.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I understood this was a motion for a suspension, and the Leader of the Opposition—

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

The Chief Government Whip will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition knows that it is a suspension motion.

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

I simply say this to the Prime Minister: the Australian people are not mugs. They know that, if $1 is taken out of one pocket, and 50c in compensation is put back into the other pocket, that is not a good deal. The Australian people will never take a dud deal from this government. They know Paul Keating's words: 'If you don't understand it, don't vote for it. If you do understand it, you'll never vote for it. (Time expired)

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

Is the motion seconded?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. This government's credibility is rock bottom. Its credibility is rock bottom because this Prime Minister's personal credibility is in tatters. At the heart of this government's problems—

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition has made no attempt to address the matter before the House.

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

The member has been on her feet for 20 seconds. She knows what the motion is.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reason this government's credibility is rock bottom and the reason this Prime Minister's personal credibility is rock bottom is that this Prime Minister and this government are trying to introduce a tax, impose a burden on the Australian people, having made a statement just six days before the last election that the Australian people believed—they took this Prime Minister at her word—and how she has betrayed them. How she has deceived them. The Australian people should have learned from what happened to the member for Griffith when the member for Griffith was so betrayed by her, when he was so betrayed by his deputy, who would said she would rather—

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

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will relate her speech to the suspension motion.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

fly to Mars than challenge the member for Griffith—but she did. She then said to the Australian people, six days before the election, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.'

Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am reluctant to do this, but the reality is that, on a number of occasions, you have advised those speaking that they should speak to why there should be a suspension of standing orders, not in relation to these erroneous matters that have nothing to do with the standing orders.

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

The member for Banks will resume his seat. From now until the end, you wish me to strictly enforce that? We will see what problems that brings.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reason we seek to censure this Prime Minister is that this government is trashing parliamentary democracy. This government is refusing to answer questions day after day in question time. This government is afraid of having to face the people through this parliament. I wonder why that would be. You see, when you lie to the Australian people via the media, there are not the consequences—

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

Order! The member will withdraw.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw. When you make a misleading statement in the parliament, oh yeah, there are consequences, but when you mislead the Australian people through the media there are not the consequences, other than you lose the next election because you have lost the faith of the Australian people. A breach of faith with the Australian people is the reason that this government's credibility is rock bottom.

When the Prime Minister was seeking to woo the Independents, to win over the Independents to prop up her minority government, she made a number of pledges. She made a number of pledges to the Independents in her speech to the National Press Club. She promised—

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Who's 'she'?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister. Aren't you aware of who your Prime Minister is? She made the pledge that she would strengthen the role of the national parliament in the decisions that affect the everyday lives of Australians. That was the Prime Minister's pledge—

A government member: Miaow!

to the Independents and to the Australian people, yet she has trashed that pledge, as she has trashed every promise to the Australian people. The fact is that she looked the Australian people in the eye and said, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead,' and yet she now seeks to impose it.

The Prime Minister also said in the National Press Club address that she believed Australians wanted greater scrutiny of their government. Well, yes, they do, and they want to be able to scrutinise this government's carbon tax through the parlia­ment. They want their questions, through their representatives, answered by this Prime Minister, yet she is scurrying away from Canberra. After the lights have been turned out, after the people have left, after the members are back in their electorates, then the Prime Minister wants to make a speech on national television about the carbon tax so that she cannot be asked questions in this parliament. She is avoiding scrutiny. She is trashing parliamentary democracy. She has broken the pledge she made to the Independents about the supremacy of this parliament and she cannot be believed on anything she says. This carbon tax is based on a lie. The Prime Minister's credibility is in tatters.

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

Order! There was an incident during the Deputy Leader's speech. If I knew who the culprit was—

Opposition members interjecting—

Order! You can point your fingers all you like.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Mr Speaker: with all due respect, it is very important that you look to the tapes to find out who made that catcall. I think it is an outrageous serve—

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

Order! The member for Higgins will resume her seat. If you want me to use the word 'disgust' I will use the word 'disgust' and I would have dealt with it if I knew who it was. I have already indicated to those who control behaviour that they should do so. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

I rise to oppose the suspension of standing orders on the basis that—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The Prime Minister will resume her seat.

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

Mr Speaker, a point of order: respectful of you, I believe that the House would be much more likely to remain in order if the member responsible confessed and apologised.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I believe there were a number of interjections that—

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! I am not wishing for a debate, because the Prime Minister has the call. If the Chief Government Whip has something to say, he will not argue the case; he will just say it.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I believe there were a number of interventions from this part of the House during that provocative speech from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I make a catch-all apology for any that I may have made.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The Prime Minister will resume her seat. The member for Higgins will resume her place. Regrettably, we leave tonight, and no matter who is blameless or not will be reflected upon for all the wrong reasons. Some people have to expect that there are levels of intervention that are seen as of being of a higher level of disgust than others. As I indicated to the House, if I had known who had made that particular intervention, it would have been dealt with. I am in the invidious position that I do not know. I think, reasonably, an invitation was made that should have been taken at its face value as being generous to actually complete and conclude the incident. If that is not possible, regrettably I will try to keep control of the chamber whilst the Prime Minister completes the last 6½ minutes of this debate. I will pause—if nothing happens, I will give the call to the Prime Minister to complete the debate. Order! 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 rise to oppose the suspension of standing orders.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The Prime Minister will resume her seat.

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

On a point of order, Mr Speaker: it is with great regret that the House will find it almost impossible to move on while the member concerned hides behind anonymity. We all know who it was. The press gallery knows who it was. I would invite him to apologise to the House.

Opposition members: Hear, hear!

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

Order! I just want to get this straight. People might allege that everybody knows. I do not know. I absolutely understand I have the problem of controlling the House. I have made attempts to bring this to a conclusion, but that has not happened. In fact, the only action I took was to indicate to people that had control of behaviour my disgust.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I apologise in a catch-all way. I thought that covered the incident.

An opposition member: Unreservedly.

My apology is unreserved.

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

Order! The Chief Government Whip will resume his seat. That is an apology and I think that nothing should be added. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

I rise to oppose the suspension of standing orders because this parliament, and this nation, does not need a further opportunity to listen to the relentless negativity of the opposition. We are a confident and creative country. We are a country that is rightly proud of its past and a country with the courage to make sure that we have the best possible future. We are not a nation that has, in the past, tried to avoid seizing the challenges of the future.

Today we are called upon to seize the challenge of our age—and that is tackling climate change. We are up to this job. As Australians, we are up to this job. We are up to the job of accepting the science. The science is now unambiguous and clear—carbon pollution is changing our climate, it is caused by human beings and we need to cut carbon pollution. We are not a nation that has sat idly by when the world has faced challenges in the past. We are one of the 20 big polluters on the planet. We are the highest polluter per head of population in the developed world. We need to make sure that we keep pace with the world. We should not lead the world but we should not be left behind either. We need to cut carbon pollution.

The economists are telling us that the best way of cutting carbon pollution is to price carbon. Prime Minister Howard believed that and the members of his cabinet believed that, including the current Leader of the Opposition—before he succumbed to the kind of opportunism we see on display today. We will use the most efficient mechanism to cut carbon pollution.

Because we come to this with our Labor values, we will ensure that we protect jobs and assist those Australian families who need our assistance the most. Our Labor tradition, our Labor way, is to understand that working people need access to the benefits and dignity of work, which is why we are so proud that more than 700,000 jobs have been created since the government was elected in 2007. More jobs will be created in the future, including after we have priced carbon.

And we will be providing assistance to Australian families. We want to work with Australian families to manage their cost-of-living pressures. That is why we will provide tax cuts, it is why we will increase payments and it is why we will provide benefits to pensioners. We will look after those in the community who need our assistance the most—that is the Labor way.

The Leader of the Opposition is inviting this nation to be less than it can be. He is inviting this nation to believe we are not up to the challenges of reform. He is inviting this nation to pretend that we can shape a future by sleepwalking towards it. I believe differently. We are a proud people, we are a creative people, we are a confident people and we are up to getting this job done.

On Sunday we will answer the questions Australians have rightly been asking us. My door has been open to the scientists, to the economists, to the energy experts, to the social welfare sector, to employers, to unions and to people of goodwill who want our nation to get on with this job. Having worked with them, we are now at the stage of saying that we know the very best way to price carbon, the very best way to reduce our pollution and the very best way to make sure we are ready for a clean energy future. We will seize the opportunity of that future. We will not allow the tide of negativity from the opposition and the scare campaigns to hold this nation back. We will walk towards this future, we will deliver the reforms the nation needs and we will work with Australian families as we do so. My message to Australians is very clear: we are up to this job and we are going to do it together, creating the clean energy future that the Australian community deserves.

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

Order! The time allotted for the debate has expired.

Question put:

That the motion (Mr Abbott's) be agreed to.

The House divided. [15:15]

(The Speaker—Mr Harry Jenkins)

Question negatived.

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

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.