Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It may well be that an emissions trading scheme is a matter of some importance, but in question time today I asked the minister responsible a very specific question. I asked the minister what the cost of this scheme would be in relation to the various elements which she argued were necessary to maintain the integrity of the scheme. I asked what it would cost to create the climate change regulatory authority and what it would cost to administer and establish many of the elements of the scheme. And she was unable to tell me. She was unable to provide an answer to this elementary question about the ETS. She was unable to provide this answer after nearly two years of work on the topic.

The government went into the last election promising some action on climate change. They could not possibly have given any thought to the possibility that there would be a need for some kind of bureaucracy to be established. During the period of time since they won office, they have spent numerous hours, spent a large amount of money and used a great deal of staff in trying to establish and set up this scheme. They have employed Professor Garnaut to provide a lengthy report, at vast expense to the taxpayer, on the scheme. So they have had plenty of time—Professor Garnaut has had plenty of time—to quantify the costs involved in this. The Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong, came into the chamber today and when I asked a very specific question was unable to answer.

This raises a critical question, not just about the ETS but about the entirely cavalier attitude that the government seems to take to the management of the public purse. This has parallels elsewhere around the Commonwealth. In particular, I cannot help but think that it has parallels in my own state of Queensland, where the Beattie-Bligh government has been in office for nearly 20 years—over a long period of time—and has failed to adequately and properly administer the public purse. During good times, during times of plenty, the Labor government in Queensland has received mountains of money. It is has received money into the Treasury from large amounts of conveyancing; it has received large amounts of money from payroll taxes; it has received massive royalties from the mining industry—in fact, so much so that the government not long ago increased the proportion of royalties—and it has received masses of money from the GST.

I have done a quick calculation. Over the last seven years, it has received something in the vicinity of $53 billion in revenue raised by the Commonwealth through the GST. In the year 2007-08, it received $8.3 billion in revenue. We—not just Queenslanders but Australians—are entitled to ask where that money has gone. Why is it not reflected in the building of infrastructure around the state of Queensland? Why is it not reflected in the progress of reducing hospital waiting lists? Why is it not reflected in the improvement of education standards in relation to numeracy and literacy in Queensland? In particular, since we asked Senator Wong this question, because she is the Minister for Climate Change and Water, why is it not reflected in the administration of the state’s water security?

Prior to the last election, in a panic because it had failed to do anything about this issue over a long period of time, the Queensland government decided to propose a new dam. This was only necessary because the former public servant K Rudd had cancelled the Wolfdene Dam in December 1989. That dam would almost certainly be overflowing to this very day. South-East Queensland’s water needs would have been more than well provided for. The cancellation of that dam resulted in a panicked development of public policy which has cost the state of Queensland billions of dollars. We have had a desalination plant proposed, which is now well behind budget. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.