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

This government believes that Australia’s prosperity is secured by recognising that we need to be competitive in a low-carbon world. Those on the other side might believe that the way to prosperity is to freeze-frame the economy and not go forward, but we are a party that believe in continued economic reform to ensure that our economy remains competitive in the future and not just today.

Unlike those opposite, we will continue to progress those national reforms, such as pricing carbon, which are about meeting future challenges and which sensible business leaders have recognised are important for Australia’s prosperity now and in the future. The difficulty with the senator’s question is that it assumes that we simply should do nothing. The reality is that we do have to do something in order to preserve our competitiveness in a world where low-carbon competitiveness will come at a premium.