Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Joyce, if I may, I respectfully suggest you are conflating quite a number of issues here. I want to make clear a number of things. The first is that we did not assume in the modelling, nor has Treasury assumed, a specific outcome for Copenhagen. That was one of the assertions you made. That was not assumed.

The second is that you seem, Senator Joyce, to be suggesting that the assumptions about carbon prices were wildly inaccurate. I am advised that the current international carbon price is around $22, so I would have thought an assumption that, as at 2012, the carbon price will be in the order of $26 seems reasonably sensible. Senator Joyce seems to be suggesting the current government has pulled some trick or is wildly inaccurate in its assumptions about the carbon price. As I said, it is reasonably close. You would assume that there would be an increase in the carbon price over the next couple of years. It is around $22 currently. If Treasury forecasts change in relation to the carbon price—as they change in relation to a great many factors, as the senator knows—certainly in relation to Australian households the government has built in an annual review in the budget context to ensure we maintain our commitments.