Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Thank goodness Senator Bishop has run out of time, because the reinvention of history that we heard from him was simply extraordinary. May I take this opportunity to remind Senator Bishop that 12 months ago the Labor Party were not out there talking about the 'clean air' policy—and that is in inverted commas, I say for Hansard's benefit. Twelve months ago the Prime Minister was out there promising there would be no tax on carbon under a govern­ment that she leads. Clearly, the plausible excuse is that she is not leading this govern­ment and it is Senator Bob Brown who is actually leading it. But to all intents and purposes the Prime Minister of Australia is meant to be Julia Gillard, and she made a catastrophic deception of the Australian people a key element of her re-election.

Senator Bishop also, through his historical revisionism, went through key economic reforms and was unable to name one single key economic reform that this Labor govern­ment have actually introduced. They have been in power for nearly four years. In those four years we have seen the Australian economy incur enormous levels of debt. We are now starting to see inflation rise. We are starting to see unemployment rise. We are starting to see a rudderless and directionless government imperil the Australian people. That is why the Australian people are up in arms.

Contrary to Senator Bishop's assertions that the Australian people are saying, 'Yes, we want this economic reform, this clean air tax, this carbon dioxide tax that you are trying to impose upon us,' we know that is not the case. That is why thousands of Australians, the regular mums and dads, the mainstream of Australia—not the extremists captured by the kooky Greens, not the extreme left who want to see the dismantling of industrialisation in this country—pick themselves up and come to Canberra to say, 'We're not happy with the deception of Julia Gillard and the Labor Party.' We know that is the case, and whatever Senator Bishop tries to assert to the contrary in this chamber beggars belief. We know that there are convoys of hundreds, if not thousands, of Australians making their way to Canberra as we speak in a convoy of no-confidence in this government.

One thing is very clear: partisan politics in this country has taken a break for a while. It is no longer the Liberal Party versus the Labor Party, it is no longer Liberal supporters versus Labor supporters; it is us as Australians against the government. All Australians feel betrayed by this govern­ment. They feel that this government is not serving the national interest. It has taken a dose of that New South Wales disease and it is all about serving Labor's political interests. It is government clinging to government and power at all or any cost.

We have established very clearly that this policy, this erroneously named and misleading carbon tax, is a tax on an odourless and colourless gas called carbon dioxide, which is an essential element for plant food. We know that. It is not a great moral issue of our time, as that deposed former prime minister professed. It is not a key plank of this government's policy because they ditched it under Senator Wong when she was the Minister for Climate Change and Water in the last government and they promised not to introduce it here.

It is a monumental deception and they are trying to get it through by masquerading it as an environmental measure. I challenge Senator Farrell, who is speaking next, to describe very succinctly exactly what difference this carbon tax is going to make to global temperature or to the environment. They are words that you will never hear uttered. The answer to that—I am not sure Senator Farrell will have the courage to say it—is zero; it is zilch; it is absolutely nothing. It will make no cracker of differ­ence to the temperature or the environment.

The only thing it will affect will be the economy. It will put all Australian industry at a disadvantage. It will put Australian mums, dads, families and pensioners at a disadvantage because the sweetener will come but once. It will come but once and the tax will go on and on and on and it will get bigger and bigger and bigger until a coalition government is elected and this tax is removed. This is the great hoax that this government is putting forward. They say they are going to have a clean air policy, according to Senator Mark Bishop. We have a clean energy revolution going on. It is going to be every bit as fraudulent and every bit as false and every bit as misleading as all their other revolutions. (Time expired)