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

I thank Senator Trood for what I assume is his last question. Unfortunately, it does not reflect the quality of his normal contribution. We have all been backbench senators and we have all been given questions like this, but, quite frankly, it is unfortunate. Most politicians say, when asked about opinion polls, 'I pay no attention to them.' I am not one of those. I obviously read them, like we all do, but I do not actually lead on the basis of them and neither does this government. We actually seek to implement policies we think are for the betterment of the nation. That is what we are doing by putting a price on pollution.

We have argued, since before the 2007 election, like the then Howard government did, that we need to respond to climate change. We need to make a comprehensive response to the effect of carbon pollution on our economy, so we are seeking, through this parliament, through the parliamentary processes, to get legislation in place that will allow us to put a price on carbon. As we finalise the detail of that legislation, we will obviously have to convince the parliament to support it and we will have to build understanding and support in the community. We very much understand that challenge. But, as the government, we have to lead. We are leading on what we think is a very important challenge to Australia.

We will be bringing legislation before this parliament. Senators will get a chance to vote on that, both those who believe in climate change and those who do not, and we will then seek to sell the reasons behind the package to the Australian community and build support for that. That is the sort of leadership we are going to provide. We do think these are important issues and we will continue to prosecute them both in the parliament and in the community and to build support for what we think is a very important economic and environmental reform for this country. (Time expired)