Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It depends. We all know—because he said it on the public record—that what he says is not necessarily what he believes or what he will deliver. We now know that not even what he writes down can we take as gospel. Like many Australians, we are a bit confused about what we can believe. The record is quite clear about Mr Abbott and what he is able to do. One thing we do know though, Senator Furner, is that he was very good at ripping the guts out of the health system when he was the health minister.

The government has seized the opportunity we believe this new parliament presents and we will work in a methodical way when considering all the options for pricing carbon. We have recognised that we need to work together in a bipartisan approach in order to gain a consensus to act on climate change. We have invited to join our climate change committee all those people who accept climate change and accept that placing a price on carbon is necessary. I repeat: we are inclusive. We are inclusive on this issue, as we are with so many others, to make sure we benefit the Australian community and make sure that our economy remains strong. We are going to go through a proper process with this multiparty committee. Of course the government will make the final decisions about what the government’s position will be, but we will go through this process step-by-step, in good faith, for the good of our nation.

The Leader of the Opposition may have noticed that, at the election on 21 August, the Australian people voted for this parliament. This means that there needs to be consensus and cooperation. We need to work together—in particular, in relation to very complex propositions. The executive government cannot come into the chamber with a piece of legislation and expect it to be automatically passed. We senators know that that is what is happening and the other place. We senators know that that is what has been occurring for some time in this chamber. We know the realities, and we as a government accept that. We have listened and we have heard what the Australia people have said. We understand that this is the parliament that the Australian people voted for. Given that this is the parliament the Australia people voted for, we are honour bound to explore the potential of this parliament.

I could go on and talk about this issue for a long time, but I want to look at some of the comments Senator Fisher made in her contribution in relation to broken promises. We do not have to stretch our memory back too far to remember the broken promises of the Howard government. Senator Fisher made some comments in relation to the National Broadband Network. I remind the chamber of some comments I made earlier today in relation to the response to the rollout of the National Broadband Network in my home state of Tasmania. It was very clear not just from the election results but from the overwhelming support of the Tasmanian community that Tasmanian people support the NBN. The Leader of the Opposition in the Tasmanian parliament, Mr Hodgman, also sees the benefit the NBN will bring to Tasmania and Australia generally. The Tasmanian opposition support the NBN. It does not matter whether you are talking to people in health, education, small business, tourism or farming: those people with vision and who have an interest in the economy can see great benefits in rolling out the National Broadband Network.