Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We will put it to an inquiry. We are opposed to it. Of course we are opposed to it. Why do I think it should go to an inquiry? Because, when I sat there for three weeks listening to the evidence, I found out more and more why this bill should not go through. It even gets to the point that you cannot even dump your rubbish without incurring a cost. The more you listen to it, the more stupid it becomes. You cannot put your rubbish in a rubbish dump without incurring a penalty. I never knew that until I listened at the inquiry, and there were many other things that I learned but they only made me realise how stupid and silly this was.

If I were asked to design a piece of legislation that would wreck the Australian economy, that would put people out of work, that would close industry down, I do not believe I could have designed a better program. That is not my view; that is the view of every major person who is involved in industry. I said it yesterday and I will repeat it: one of the directors of the Reserve Bank—and he must have got there because he had influence with the Liberals or the Nationals or presumably the Labor Party—said that Australia will survive a global crisis but it may not survive an ETS. That is someone who has credibility. He is also a director of BlueScope or OneSteel. We heard from both companies, and they said they could not survive with this. And now you have Combet going around offering a bet here and trying to pick the industries off one by one, saying: ‘Here are a few more certificates. We’ll give you another five per cent. We’ll extend it for a year.’ As one person—I forget his name—said, ‘You can’t put lipstick on a pig because it will still look like a pig with lipstick,’ and that is exactly what this bill is going to look like: a pig with lipstick.

It is wrong. The Business Council of Australia have sold their people out and they know it. They are going through a huge conflict at the moment. A lot of people are leaving. A lot of people are saying that they are being sold out and they are in an awkward position. They have the rent seekers on one side who know they can get a quid if these certificates are exchanged and sold around, bought in from overseas. There is a quid in it for them. But who pays? I will tell you who pays—the working families pay. Working families are going to pay for this indiscretion. I am certain—and I have never been more certain in 26, going on 27, years in this place—that this is the worst piece of legislation I have ever seen produced by the Labor Party, and I have seen some stinkers. But this is the very worst.

I cannot believe Senator Cameron. I would have thought he would stand up for the working man. He has completely sold out. I do not know whether he has been brainwashed—although I do not think he is that silly—or whether he is being a good trooper and doing what he has been told to do. But I say to him: you do not have to prostitute yourself. You got here on the Labor vote, on the blue-collar vote, and you are not standing up for them. In fact, the only people who are standing up for them are the coalition. They are waking up fast, and you want to get this legislation through quickly before they do wake up. But I think you have left it too late. They are waking up now. They are waking up in Gladstone, where the cement and aluminium industries are. They know their jobs are on the line. They are waking up in Rockhampton. The abattoir workers in Rockhampton know. The miners in the Bowen Basin know. The word is out: ‘These people are trading our jobs for Greens preferences, and we do not like it. We feel betrayed. We only have our vote to protect ourselves and we will use that vote.’