Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection, thank you, Senator McGauran. No, you were not in your seat, I cannot possibly do that! But this is absolutely serious. The Nationals have been very clear on this issue since day one. We have not wavered one speck. Indeed, it was Senator Boswell, standing in this chamber, who belled the cat on this long before anybody else. I remember sitting here, listening to him speaking on his MPI one day and I thought, ‘Senator Boswell is onto something here.’ That was a very long time ago and he was dead right. The Nationals, from that moment on, have not moved away from our view that we should be voting against this ETS.

And there are some very clear and simple reasons for that. This is a massive new tax. Forget about the GFC; we now have the MNT—and this massive new tax is going to be far worse for people across Australia than any GFC ever would be. The legislation is going to hit regional Australia harder than anywhere else across the country. I am not going to stand here, as a senator for New South Wales, and not do everything I possibly can to make sure that those regions have someone here fighting for them. My Nationals colleagues and I—and, I must say, some of my Liberal colleagues as well—are trying to do this for people in regional Australia because the legislation is simply wrong. It is not right, it is not fair and it is not on. The other very simple reason we oppose this is that we emit 1.4 per cent of the emissions. While ever the rest of the world is not on board, while our major trading partners are not on board, it is not going to make the slightest bit of difference to the climate. So why on earth are we even considering these bills? Because of the Prime Minister’s vanity, because of some fairyland path the government want to go down because they have to show leadership. It is just rubbish. What is really sad is that it is people in Australia that are going to be hurt so badly by this.

That MNT, massive new tax, has been related to an increase to the GST of around 2½ per cent. So let’s have a 12½ per cent GST—there is a really good idea! As my very good colleague sitting here in front of me, Senator Joyce, said, it is going to come at you out of your shopping trolleys, your light switches and your power points. It is going to come at you from everywhere. I commend my Senate leader for the excellent speech he gave in this chamber this morning and for the work he has done out there fighting for the people that need someone in here to bat for them so that this craziness on the other side of this chamber, and on the other side of the other house, does not take hold. It simply cannot.

It simply cannot. Look at the job losses: 126,000 jobs to go, including 66,000 in mining. And guess who those people are—