Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I also am very interested in this clause and the question which my colleague Senator Birmingham, who is in charge of this bill in this chamber, has asked. I am delighted, actually, to take part again in this debate on a day which is the very first anniversary of that famous statement by the current Leader of the Labor Party, Julia Gillard, when she promised all Australians that there would be no carbon tax under a government she leads. Not only did she promise that; the federal Treasurer, Mr Swan, confirmed that the Labor Party in govern­ment would not introduce a carbon tax. In fact, he rubbished the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, who had predicted, I think on no fewer than 10 occasions, that the Labor Party would intro­duce a carbon tax if they won the election. Mr Swan said Mr Abbott was being hysterical even to suggest that, but where are we one year later? We are in the throes of a debate surrounding the new carbon tax which the Labor Party intends introducing.

Madam Temporary Chair, you may recall that the Leader of the Labor Party, Julia Gillard, promised that she would not take any action on a carbon tax until she had a consensus in the parliament. There was a consensus on the carbon tax. A year ago today there was a consensus between the Liberal Party, the National Party, the Labor Party and most of the Independents, and that consensus was: there will be no carbon tax under the next government, whoever it might be. Yet here we are, just 12 months on from that very famous, very obvious and very clear promise by the Leader of the Labor Party, Julia Gillard, to the Australian public that if they voted for her and her party, and for the senators sitting opposite—and about 50 per cent did, with the Greens pref­erences—there would be no carbon tax. That is why Australians voted for either the Liberal-National Party or the Labor Party. They knew, because of a solemn promise by the Leader of the Labor Party, that there would be no carbon tax under the govern­ment she led. Here we are, exactly 12 months later, debating a bill that is putting into place some of the legislation surround­ing the carbon tax that Julia Gillard promised would not be introduced.

How can anyone in Australia believe anything the current Leader of the Labor Party, Julia Gillard, might say about any policy issue? She cannot be believed on the carbon tax and she could not be believed on border protection and boat people. Heaven knows how many different changes of policy we have had since the election about 12 months ago. Nobody in Australia can possibly take Julia Gillard's word for any­thing. Today is the 12-month anniversary of Julia Gillard, and of all my Senate colleagues sitting opposite me here, promising the Australian people there would be no carbon tax under this government—and where are we today? I know many of my colleagues in the Labor Party sitting opposite are devastated by the fact that they are required by Labor Party rules to support this policy, which was born of a lie by the Labor Party leader 12 months ago today.

Progress reported.