Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

I think the opposition seems to be ill informed. Indeed, I am advised that the shadow Treasurer, Mr Wayne Swan, was caught out badly by the media this morning when he called a doorstop to assert falsely that the Prime Minister had suddenly converted to a position of proposing a domestic national emissions trading scheme. He was picked up by a journalist present who said, ‘We’ve not heard the Prime Minister actually say that,’ and, as I am advised, Mr Swan had to back off. It would appear that Senator Evans is suffering from the same delusion.

The government continues to be opposed to Australia acting unilaterally to tax Australian industry by way of a domestic emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax in the absence of any action by our trading partners or other major nations in the world. We announced sometime late last year that the government was open to the proposition—indeed, supportive of the proposition advanced properly by the former Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell—that an international global trading scheme in carbon was something we saw some attraction to and would be prepared to contemplate. Indeed, a committee has been established to report on this matter and a discussion paper will be released this week on that very matter as to how an international trading scheme might operate and Australia’s part in that.

We continue to oppose the Labor Party’s policy of a unilateral domestic emissions trading scheme, which we continue to believe would do damage to the Australian economy, would damage Australia’s workers, would put Australians out of work—it would damage the very people the Labor Party professes to support—would drive industry overseas and would be a disinvestment action by any Australian government. So we continue to argue against that proposition. We continue to believe that the Labor Party, in pursuing that policy, is doing Australia great damage. We continue to believe that the Labor Party has no credibility on this issue. To the extent that it continues to flatly and absolutely oppose even any contemplation or consideration of nuclear power playing a part in Australia’s future energy needs, Labor has no credibility on this issue. As to the misrepresentation of the Prime Minister’s position, I wish to, as I said, correct the record.