Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

Well, isn't this interesting—Senator Cameron on the other side of this chamber telling us we have no economic credibility! I am sorry. Isn't this the government that just a couple of weeks ago increased its borrowings from $200 billion to $250 billion? Mind you, colleagues, they did not give us a chance to actually scrutinise this. Oh, no—they slipped it in with the appropriations bill. Of course, we all know that parliament accedes to those things so the operation of government can happen. They tried to hide it away—$250 billion. Do you know how much we are going to be paying in interest every day over the next financial year, Senator Cash? Fifteen million dollars a day in interest. So, Senator Cameron, do not sit on that side of the chamber and lecture this side of this chamber, which left you with a surplus, about our economic credibility.

The Australian people now are in absolutely no doubt whatsoever about what the government thinks of them. What the Carbon Tax Plebiscite Bill 2011 does is give the Australian people a say. It gives the Australian people the opportunity to say whether or not they want a carbon tax. What did Senator Cameron just call that oppor­tunity? A mindless political stunt. Senator Cameron and the Labor government think that giving the Australian people a say is a mindless political stunt. To anybody out there who might be watching this or who might at some point be reading this, that is what this Labor government under Julia Gillard thinks of you. It thinks that giving you a say is a mindless political stunt. I would say that any Australian, having been told that, would think: 'What is this govern­ment going on about? Why can't we have a say? Why can't we consider whether or not we as Australian families, workers and indi­viduals want to actually have a carbon tax?' But, oh no: this government will not do that.

Why don't you stay, Senator Cameron? Why don't you stay? It might be nice if you actually stayed here for the debate. Let us just have a look at Senator Cameron. Isn't it interesting when he talks about mindless political stunts? Mindless? The only other thing he was talking about as being mindless was his colleagues when he called them all zombies. That was the last mindless thing that Senator Cameron was talking about. So it is quite interesting to see him stand here today and lecture us when all we are doing is attempting to give the Australian people a say on whether or not they want a carbon tax.

Of course, a plebiscite would have a cost, and Senator Cameron has just raised that—$80 million. The hypocrisy from Senator Cameron and this government saying there is a cost attached to this plebiscite! Let me tell you, Mr Deputy President: they spent $80.9 million on administering an emissions trad­ing scheme that does not even exist. And Senator Cameron has the hypocrisy to sit on that side of the chamber and tell us we are potentially wasting money. It is just extraordinary.

The Australian people are waking up to this government, and thank goodness they are. How dare this government try to intro­duce a carbon tax, the biggest single issue that this country has had to deal with for decades, without letting the Australian peo­ple have a say—those mums and dads living in the suburbs in Sydney, those farmers out there in regional Australia, those workers, those truckies driving across the country, those people working in small businesses, those people in schools teaching, those nurses and those doctors? Everybody across the community has no chance to have a say and to tell this government whether or not they want a carbon tax. That is simply wrong, because we know that before the last election this Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, having managed to get to the position of leader of the Australian Labor Party through means that were somewhat less than elegant, said to the Australian people, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' It is always good for prime ministers to be very clear about what they say and to be very clear in their intent. There can be nothing taken out of context when you know exactly what they say and that that is what they mean. Julia Gillard said, 'There will be no carbon tax under any government I lead.'