Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I find it ridiculous for you to come in here this afternoon and try to raise that as an issue. I take your commitment to the workers as being an absolute falsehood. But nice try! On climate change and the ETS, our position is clear. Unlike your side of the chamber, we support the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. This is going to be one of the biggest economic reforms this country has seen. Some of the comments by the previous speakers in terms of business are absolutely ridiculous because, while we are working through these issues and while consultation is underway, when I talked to business and employers, the thing they were after on ETS was certainty; they want certainty. This is something that the government is well aware of. I bring to the attention of the Senate the Australian Industry Group’s press release on 16 July 2008 in response to the green paper, in which Heather Ridout stated:

The green paper on the proposed (scheme) ticks the right boxes and shows the government has heard many of the central concerns raised by business.

I note that the Senator who actually raised that has now left. She does not want to hear the truth. The green paper addresses the chief areas of concern raised by the AI Group in its discussions with government. That is pretty clear. We have been in consultation with business, we have been in consultation with industry and we are listening to them. At the same time, this issue is too important to play games with and too important just to leave to chance. What senators on the opposite side failed to talk about were the Treasury figures, which show that this Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is possible and will work. They also forgot to talk about the actual opportunities that come in place with the CPRS—the new green industries that can be really focused upon by the government and industry to create new jobs, new industries, activity and economic growth. These are the things we can gain and garner out of the new Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

The debate for me today is very illustrative of the Liberal Party and their leadership, very illustrative of Malcolm Turnbull, the member for Wentworth, and the way he goes on in his dealings, especially with the media. So you have two faces of the Liberal Party: what they say publicly and what they actually achieve and do. We should always judge them not on what they say but on what they do, because there is a wide, wide gulf between what they believe in and what they put out. They are very, very clever; I have to say that. I will give you the compliment: you have been very clever in the way you have been doing this.