Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Maybe so, but we did not do so in circumstances that were going to push up prices without compensation. And what compensation have you got in place? You have a compensation for energy increases. You proposed a compensation scheme for those increases in energy costs for Australians, but not, at this point at least, a proposal for increases in compensation to cover the cost of food and groceries.

The fact is that this emissions trading scheme has not been well thought through. The implications are inadequately identified and compensated for, and it is a result of the fact that this emissions trading scheme that this government has advanced is in fact a political exercise, not a policy exercise. The inability of the government and the minister in this place today to put any flesh on her bald assertions about price rises, and the fact that she has had no consultation with the industries concerned, reflects on the government very badly and suggests we are going to be facing very serious increases in those costs in the future. (Time expired)