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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Senator Wong. The minister will be aware that the Chairman of BHP Billiton, Mr Kloppers, has called for a broad based carbon tax in Australia ahead of action by the rest of the world but in a form that would not expose BHP to the cost. Is the minister also aware that the Democrat majority in the United States Senate very recently dumped legislation that would have put a price on carbon? How can the government now support Mr Kloppers’s call for a carbon tax when the reality is that, with the US not moving on climate change, China and India certainly will not and all that Australia would be doing by putting a price on carbon would be putting our economy and our jobs in grave jeopardy and doing ourselves a lot of harm?