Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister of the closure of the Clyde oil refinery, the statement by the Australian Institute of Petroleum that the carbon tax has placed Australian refiners at a commercial disadvantage and the statement of Shell CEO Ann Pickard that the carbon tax will 'break the camel's back on investment in Australia'. Why does the Prime Minister keep asserting that the government's tax policies have no impact on industry's investment decisions when that assertion is clearly untrue?

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

I thank the member for Indi for her question. I thought at the end of yesterday maybe the opposition had moved on from carbon pricing, but clearly not. And there is the member for Indi, back, right on cue—despite knowing that the Leader of the Opposition is someone who has been in favour of carbon pricing, every living Liberal leader is in favour of carbon pricing; and, should the Leader of the Opposition ever be elected as Prime Minister, he will keep carbon pricing. But I am not surprised that the member for Indy is in this parliament, once again, misrepresenting what is happening with carbon pricing, because the Leader of the Opposition, though he is a supporter of it, is addicted to the fear campaign. But the fear campaign is always punctured by the facts. And the fact is this: we are seeing business investment, as a percentage of GDP, at its highest point in 40 years—17.1 per cent. That is the fact.

The member for Indy might look like she is not interested in that but you cannot wish those kinds of statistics away. We are seeing business investment at record levels. And that is after we have announced carbon pricing and legislated for it, after we agreed the minerals resource rent tax and legislated for it. That is the performance of the Australian economy. Yes, of course, there are things in the Australian economy that are bringing pressures. Chief amongst them is the high Australian dollar, which is putting pressure on a range of businesses, but it is not true, as the opposition is trying to assert today, that we are seeing business investment at anything other than very strong levels in our economy.

If the member for Indy is truly interested in risks to this kind of business investment then she may want to inquire of the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer why they want to do things like put company tax up and why they have $70 billion that they need to slash out of services to families, with all of the implications that that would have for jobs and support in the Australian economy. Why is it that they are on such a reckless and destructive path when it comes to Australian businesses? Why is it that they spend all of their time scrapping about investments, with Senator Joyce allowed to say whatever he likes whenever he likes, jeopardising foreign investment and the future of the Australian economy? Why is it that they are bereft of any strategy other than aggressive and reckless negativity?

If the member for Indy has the slightest interest in the jobs and prospects of working Australians she should be seeking to get those questions answered, not to misrepresent the facts.

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

The member for Sturt knows by now that standing in the aisles is inappropriate. He has been warned. He is on his last legs.

John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and Minister for Industry and Innovation. Will the minister inform the House of the facts about international action to tackle climate change, including international carbon markets. Minister, why is it important to rely on the facts about climate change rather than the scare campaigns?

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

I thank the member for Reid for his question. It is particularly pertinent because yesterday, on behalf of the government, I introduced legislation that will link Australia's carbon price mechanism to the European Union emissions trading scheme, which is the largest carbon market in the world and has been in place since 2005.

The fact of the matter is that by linking with the European Union Australia's carbon price will be the same as that which obtains in 30 other countries with a combined population of 530 million people. Little wonder that the Leader of the Opposition turns his back, because that is a message he does not want to hear. He has deceived people in this country about this issue. Thirty other countries will have the same carbon price, including the United Kingdom, Germany and France—and in combination those countries represent our second largest trading partner, and they will have the same carbon price. This gives the lie—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

the lie to the campaign by the Leader of the Opposition that Australia is somehow going it alone.

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

Order! The minister will withdraw. I think I made it fairly clear to everybody that that word is not to be tolerated from anybody. The minister will withdraw.

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

I withdraw.

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

I rise on a point of order. Madam Deputy Speaker, with the greatest of deference, given that the member for Indy had already been asked to withdraw the word 'lie' and the minister has, moments later, come in and used it three times, surely he should warned for defying the chair.

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

I am finding it difficult to think that people should not know by now that the use of the word 'lie' is totally inappropriate.

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

These mendacious claims have been made by the Leader of the Opposition numerous times. For example, he has claimed that there are no carbon pricing mechanisms anywhere in the world at all—they are nowhere in the world; there is no carbon price. Just last month he said:

There are no developing carbon markets in the Asia-Pacific.

Well, the facts are somewhat different. The fact is that Korea, China, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the US state of California—

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

I rise on a point of order.

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! I cannot hear a thing. The member for Bass is warned.

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

How can it be relevant for the minister to be talking about countries that do not have an economy-wide carbon price? He is not talking about—

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

The minister has the call.

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

Not only are there market measures developing within the economies that I referred to, just this week there were further details of emissions trading schemes in Guangdong Province—which, on its own, in China is our sixth largest trading partner—and also in Shenzhen. These are hugely significant developments.

The fact of the matter is that there have been no unimaginable price increases as forecast by the Leader of the Opposition. There has been no collapse of whole regions or industries. In fact, today, Arrium Mining announced 100 new jobs in Whyalla, that the opposition leader said would be wiped off the map. Jobs are growing. The economy is growing. This has been the most mendacious campaign we have seen against an important policy initiative and you are going to be held to account for everything you said. (Time expired)

Mr Ciobo interjecting—

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

The member for Moncrieff is denying the member for Goldstein the call.

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to yesterday's statement by the government's economist of choice, Ross Garnaut, that Australians are:

… going to have a very difficult time adapting to the decline in living standards that’s going to be a necessary part of the adjustment to the end … of the boom

Given that the Prime Minister misled the Australian people before the election about the carbon tax, does she expect Australians to now trust her that the carbon tax and the mining tax have had zero impact on the job- and wealth-creating mining industry?

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

To the member for Goldstein, who may or may not have listened to the answer to the question for the member for Indi, there are things called facts. I know they are always inconvenient for the opposition, and I know that they never buttress the opposition's fear campaign. I know that therefore the opposition lives in denial of them, and I know therefore that the opposition criticises, hounds and seeks to destroy anybody who raises the facts and any expert who ventures an opposition. That is all part of their relentless, destructive, aggressive negativity, and we see it every day.

But people of reason know that there are things called facts, and the facts matter—like the facts on business investment in our nation. The member for Goldstein, who is seeking to be a senior economic spokesperson in a government, should acquaint himself with these facts. We have a growing economy. We have business investment as a percentage of GDP at a very high point—the highest point in 40 years. We have reached that with the government's policy settings, which have been about keeping the Australian economy strong, making sure we came out of the global financial crisis without a recession and with Australians in work, and, in this phase of economic change in our region, seeking to maximise the jobs and opportunities that come from this period of economic change.

And that does mean that we have to be ready for the future. That does mean that we need to have a cleaner energy economy, and that is why we have put a price on carbon. It does mean that we will need the infrastructure of the future, which is why infrastructure investments are at a record level, and we are rolling out the National Broadband Network. It does mean that we will need the skills of the future, which is why there is nothing more precious to us than what is happening in our education system—whether it is early childhood education, school skills or universities—and we are not done yet on making sure that Australians have got the best of future opportunities. It is about making sure, as our region grows and changes and is home to more middle-class people than any other part of the world, that we get the benefit of those opportunities: legal services, health services, education services and food industry services—and the list goes on. This is the economic future—

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

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Prime Minister was asked about Ross Garnaut's comments about declining living standards in Australia under this government, and that is the question she needs to answer.

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

The Prime Minister has the call and will return to the question before the chair.

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

The Manager of Opposition Business has just misrepresented what Professor Garnaut said. Let's just mark that. The Manager of Opposition Business should note the facts about economic growth in this country. And the Manager of Opposition Business should also be honest enough to say that the opposition is wilfully misleading people about those facts as part of their negative campaign. (Time expired)