Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brown for her question. Pricing carbon is an essential economic reform, and it is the right thing to do. A carbon price is a price on pollution. It is the cheapest and fairest way to cut pollution and build a clean-energy economy. The best way to stop businesses polluting, and to get them to invest in clean energy, is to charge them when they pollute. Australia, as we all know, has one of the most carbon-intensive economies in the world. Per head of population we have the highest emissions of any developed country, emitting around 27 tonnes of carbon per person per year.

A clean-energy nation is in the national interest. The longer we delay, the harder the adjustment will be. The global renewable energy sector is already taking hold. In 2009, for the second year in a row, both the United States and Europe added more power capacity from renewable sources such as wind and solar than from conventional sources. The government wants Australians to benefit from this new green boom, not get left behind.

Change is difficult, but we have to start now—and we do need leadership from our politicians. Major economic reform does require leadership. In the 1980s Labor in government made the tough economic reforms to deregulate our economy and bring down tariff walls. It was not easy but it did create new jobs, it changed the face of others and we reaped the benefits of that reform. And we can reap the benefits of a transition to a clean-energy economy. What we need to do is to act in the national interest, to take on these difficult challenges and to provide business with the certainty they need. Business need to know how we are going to progress with these matters so they can make the investment decisions that we need, and unless we give them that certainty we will be held back. This is important economic reform, and I hope the parliament will support it in due course. (Time expired)