Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The government have made clear our view that climate change is a challenge that needs to be responded to. We believe that pricing carbon is an important economic reform. We believe that the most efficient way of doing that is to put in place a market mechanism to impose such a price and to ensure that there are proper measures to assist households as well as businesses through the transition. This is about meeting one of the challenges of today that is a challenge of tomorrow. It is about looking to the future. It is about trying to ensure in years to come that we look back and we say, ‘We did manage the transition to a clean-energy, low-pollution economy’—whereas people will look back on this Hansard, Senator Bernardi, and reflect on the somewhat outlandish conspiracy theories and the scaremongering, fearmongering, oppositionist approach that you always take to most issues and most certainly to this one.