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

I think that Senator Milne is right: I do not believe that it was ever going in. What a fiasco. The National Party are supposed to jump on board because we got something called primary industry taken out. What a farce. It was never in there. How can you get something taken out that was never there in the first place? This needs to be reviewed.

There is another aspect to this that I want to point out. This has to come back after Copenhagen and be presented. I believe that it has to be reviewed. The deal includes ‘an automatic statutory review of the CPRS legislation, including EITE policy, as soon as practicable after Australia signs a new multilateral agreement on climate change which imposes obligations to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.’ So, as soon as Copenhagen is over, we will be back here reviewing it. What is the point of this? In nine days or whatever, Copenhagen is going to be on.

I will here paraphrase the headline in the Australian: Mr Rudd is treating us like mugs, and he is treating you like mugs, and he is treating the Australian population like mugs. Do not underestimate them, because there are some very clever people out there and they do not all run small businesses; they do not all drive Mercedes; they do not all drive Volvos. A lot of them are trade unionists who you have neglected. And they are clever people. They might not have degrees in medicine, but they might drive the dragline, be on the wharf or in a factory. They are not dumb. They know that this is a setup. They know that this is tax that is being imposed on them at a time when they do not need it, because you only have to wait nine days. But you cannot even wait until after Wednesday night; you have to put it through on Wednesday. If I was you over there, I would be hanging my head in shame. I would be going to the trade unions and your blue-collar workers and begging forgiveness. Instead, you are saying, ‘Brother, you know what solidarity is. You got your share. Just shut up and roll over.’