Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do I look smarter?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member asked if he looked smarter, and the answer to that is clearly no!

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday the Prime Minister told the House that under Tony Abbott's direct action policy 'this government is cutting emissions', but RepuTex modelling released just this month shows that under direct action emissions from Australia's biggest polluters will increase by 20 per cent in the next 15 years. When exactly did the Prime Minister sell out his beliefs on climate change?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for the Environment.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr Butler interjecting—

The members on my left will cease interjecting. Resume your seat. There is no point of order. The Prime Minister is quite entitled to refer the question to the minister.

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have asked the Prime Minister when he sold out his beliefs. I am sure the Minister for the Environment has a view about that, but ultimately only the Prime Minister knows the answer to that question.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will resume his seat. There are a number of statements and questions in there. It was a long question. You took pretty much the full 30 seconds.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The substance of the question was a question. The line that the shadow minister then used to describe his question, which is the last part of the question, was clearly out of order. If the shadow minister insists that that is the question then he is actually ruling his own question out of order.

You had a bad day yesterday. You lost four questions yesterday. You're going to have another bad day today. But, if you want a genuine answer to the substance of the question, the minister is prepared to answer it.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will resume his seat. The Minister for the Environment has the call—or I can go to the next question.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am actually delighted to answer this question on behalf of the government because on this side we love the environment. We have had 62 questions on the environment and two in two years from our honourable friend on the other side with the very smart looking glasses. Let me say that he loves the environment so much that his questions have included migration, shipbuilding, marriage equality, health funding, education funding—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for the Environment will return to the subject of the question.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

paid parental leave—and I could list a whole lot of others, but they have not been about the environment. But let me deal with this.

Ms King interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Ballarat will cease interjecting.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are making dramatic and real progress under our approach to reducing emissions. It is actually working, because what we saw in the latest national inventory statement for the last quarter was that we had the lowest emissions since 2004 in trend and seasonal terms. They are the official national figures. They were released in the last few weeks.

Where does this fit? In 2008, when their justification for the carbon tax was put down, they said there was a gap of 1.3 billion tonnes which had to be filled between 2012 and 2020. Then in 2013 they said it was a gap of 750 million tonnes. Then it became a gap which we discovered at 426 and then 236. And do you know what?

Mr Ewen Jones interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Herbert is warned.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our latest projections are that we will achieve our targets. We will do it in a way which was never offered under them, because their only approach was higher electricity prices. We are doing this by reducing the cost of living on Australian families and reducing emissions. They increased the cost of living and they failed in any significant way to reduce emissions.

I am, of course, not allowed to show props, but, between now and election day, every time I come to this dispatch box I will come and lay on the table the report Shorten did not want you to see: the ALP's $600 billion carbon bill. Every day I come to this dispatch box, that will permeate. We are reducing emissions without a carbon tax. The facts are they are the lowest carbon emissions since 2004, electricity prices are lower under us and we are reducing emissions. Under them, electricity prices are up and emissions are up. (Time expired)

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister obviously is not aware of this modelling. I seek leave to table the modelling from RepuTex that indicates that emissions will increase by 20 per cent under Tony Abbott's direct action policy.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is it a newspaper clip?

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a media release from RepuTex headed 'Safeguard emissions rules indicate significant disconnect'—

Leave not granted.