Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

and the Hon. Andrew Robb. I thank Senator Wong for reminding me of that most important person, because he actually has responsibility for the emissions trading scheme and I of course represent him in this place on behalf of the coalition. We look forward to the outcomes. We believe those discussions are still taking place.

We look forward to the committee stages of this legislation, hoping that we will be able to come to a sensible conclusion for the benefit of Australian jobs, Australian industry and our environment. When I say ‘our environment’, it is not only Australia’s production of carbon that we have to be concerned about; it is also the world’s that we have to be concerned about, to ensure that we do not simply pass our pollution offshore. So we look forward to the committee stages because we believe that there is a sensible way forward with this legislation which will build on those very solid blocks and foundation first laid by the Howard government in 2000. In principle we support the bill, but we do have many reservations which, we trust, will be able to be resolved by amendment through the committee stages.