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

That question is from a man who follows a leader who pretends to be a conviction politician while arguing for a plebiscite that he said he would ignore. What sort of conviction politician says, 'I so care about this issue so much the people should decide, but, by the way, I'll ignore it.' That completely exposes both the senator and Mr Abbott for what they are. They are far more interested in playing a short-term political game, trying to be destructive and negative, than acting in the long-term national interest.

We on this side understand that the challenge of climate change will not disappear because some people on that side are not prepared to face up to it. We on this side and other members of this parliament are prepared to take that responsibility. It is not an easy policy challenge but it is not one that should continue to be ducked because some people want to play a few political games. (Time expired)