Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the statement from the CEO of BHP Billiton, Marius Kloppers, just two months ago, that 'carbon taxes and so on have all conspired to turn this from a fairly low-cost environment, and therefore competitive, to a higher cost environment'. Does the Prime Minister seriously expect Australians to believe that her government's policies have had no impact on BHP's decision to shelve the Olympic Dam mine and the Port Hedland harbour expansion?

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

Can I suggest to the member that he does something that the Leader of the Opposition was incapable of doing before he presented for a national TV interview last night. It will not take him very long; it is just one page. You do not even have to bother going to page 2, because that just has names and contact details on it. And when you do, instead of misrepresenting BHP's position, you will be informed by the facts. And instead of misrepresenting BHP's position on issues like carbon pricing, I would refer him to statements of—

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

Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: the shadow minister asked a serious question and South Australians expect a serious answer. The Prime Minister should answer the question about how she explains the decision that was made by BHP Billiton.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. 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, Madam Deputy Speaker. Going to the member for Sturt's point of order, I grew up in South Australia and that is why I am personally offended by the fact that the Leader of the Opposition cannot be bothered spending one minute reading 600 or 700 words about the future of South Australia.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Manager of Opposition Business is warned.

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

I am offended, as someone who grew up there, that he cannot take a minute of his time to read one page about something as important as Olympic Dam. Every South Australian should be asking themselves: why is it that the Leader of the Opposition can spend some time reading controversial books but he cannot be bothered reading one page about the future of Olympic Dam? They might well be interested in his choice of reading material. He has determined not to read anything that matters to the future of South Australia.

On the misrepresentations by the member who asked the question, I refer him to the statement of the BHP boss, Marius Kloppers, which ran in the Australian under the heading 'BHP boss Marius Kloppers: it's time for carbon tax'. It read as follows:

We do believe that such a global initiative—

a carbon price—

will eventually come and, when it does, Australia will need to have acted ahead of it to maintain its competitiveness.

There was never a truer word spoken.