Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Once more we go to the premise of the effect on the Australian working family of this amendment and amendments such as this going through. It has been clearly shown that we will be looking at an effect that causes the demise of working families’ jobs, an increase in costs to pensioners, an increase in costs to farmers. There is a paucity of information that actually sits underneath this on the economic effects on our nation as a whole, with a discrepancy compared to other nations regarding how Australia will maintain in an open economy and a competitive environment a position that keeps people in work and that allows benefaction of our nation as represented in our mineral wealth to be delivered back to the Australian people in such a way as to increase their standard of living or basically keep the standard of living represented by simple things, such as keeping an air conditioner on or keeping the price of food affordable. (Quorum formed)

The whole modus operandi of this legislation, taking place merely days before Copenhagen, the place where the world will meet, is such that if we are truly looking for a global solution we will find it. But, if people are in fear of Copenhagen not delivering a global solution, I can say that the only reason that we would vote on this legislation now would be to force the issue, to actually undermine Copenhagen. After lauding Copenhagen, it is a statement that you do not believe. You have a lack of confidence in Copenhagen being able to deliver an outcome. So, far from being part of a global solution, it is part of inciting and undermining Copenhagen.

If we truly believe in keeping Australia as a competitive nation in a global economy with open borders and open trade, we cannot unilaterally go down this path. It would be the height of self-indulgence by a government in Australia to take us down a path that would put at risk Australian working families and those pensioners who have been contacting us not in their hundreds but in their thousands. We have also received tens of thousands of emails. Today the weather is remarkably cold—maybe that is a sign where we are going with this—but no doubt summer will come. One of the big things people will want is the capacity to be able to pay for the air conditioning in their house. Pensioners who are on the breadline do exist. We have to remind the Labor Party that they are doing it terribly tough, and they will be the people who will be afflicted by this scheme. We know that at the start there is compensation, that there is a bit of sugar on the table to help those who are doing it tough, but that all passes, that all finishes, and people will then be left with the cost.