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

We have been clear about why we need to take action on climate change, and that is that all of us lose, including future generations, if we do not. Those opposite might want to play politics with this issue and dismiss the science. Senator Bernardi might want to talk about the conspiracy of scientists. But, funda­mentally, in five, 10 or 20 years time people will look back at some of the arguments by those opposite, who are so irresponsible about the importance of this issue, so irresponsible about the burden we are imposing. If we do not act, our children and grandchildren will judge us very harshly. We will do this responsibly and we will ensure that the money paid by big polluters is returned for the purposes I have outlined. That is the responsible path. (Time expired)