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

I suspect the question really is: why would anyone believe those opposite on anything to do with climate change? They have—and they always forget this—the same target as the government. They want to reduce emissions by five per cent. The difference is that they are going to take money from Australian taxpayers, give it to the big polluters and hope that there might be some difference. In that process they will blow a massive hole in the Australian government budget or they will have to raise taxes. That is the difference. That is why no credible economist anywhere supports their policy. This is the sort of economic illiteracy you get from an opposition which has to find $70 billion worth of cuts just to get to the starting line—not for more promises; just to get to the starting line—because of all the mistakes they have made to date.