Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, we await with interest the opposition’s position on this. We in the government understand a number of things which appear to have escaped the opposition’s attention. The first is that climate change is something that we do need to act on as a nation. We need to transition our economy over time to a lower carbon economy. We on this side understand that the costs of delaying and the costs of inaction are greater than the costs of responsible action now. Secondly, we on this side of the chamber understand absolutely that we need to strike the right balance between the interests of the emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries and the interests of Australian households in both ensuring that there is adequate assistance for the introduction of a carbon price and recognising that failure to act on climate change, as was the hallmark of the Howard government, simply increases the costs.