Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Williams says they are also the biggest producer of coal. That is correct—they are the biggest producer of coal, they are the biggest user of coal and they are at the forefront, along with the Australian government, in trying to produce carbon capture and storage processes to make sure that we can continue to use coal.

The scare campaign which has been run by the coalition is simply short-termism. It is about trying to get short-term political advantage. It is about saying, 'We do not really care about future generations.' You do not care about my grandkids. Some of you do not even care about your own family's future if there is some kind of short-term advantage politically. The scientific facts are clear—there is an imperative to deal with climate change. Some in the coalition understand this. The member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, knows that full well. He knows that you have to deal with climate change. Your former leader was knocked off because he actually spoke the truth in the coalition party room. He was knocked off because he said the best way to deal with climate change is to put a price on carbon.

The majority in the coalition actually reject the science. They are antiscientific. They are absolutely antiscientific.

Senator Bernardi interjecting—

Senator Williams interjecting—

You can hear the groans coming from the coalition—the groans and moans: 'They've got us again. Yes, we are antiscientific, but please don't tell us, because we don't like being told that we are antiscientific.' You are absolutely antiscientific, because the science says that you have to deal with climate change and what is your answer to that? Your answer is: direct action. What is direct action? Direct action is a fraud. Direct action is the biggest fraud anyone has ever attempted to perpetrate on the Australian community. It is such a fraud—the CSIRO has looked at the argument that you can have all of this climate abatement through soil carbon and has said that it is not achievable.

You will be consigning future generations to ever-increasing sea levels, ever-increasing carbon in the atmosphere and ever-increasing environmental problems, affecting their ability to have a decent life. There is a sound economic basis for what the government is doing; there is absolutely no economic basis for the coalition's policy. The argument that we are acting alone is wrong. The European Union has its carbon abatement scheme in place—a carbon trading scheme—and the rest of the world is moving to reduce carbon. The Commonwealth's modelling is the most effective modelling around to predict what will happen.

We heard a bit said earlier about Professor Henry Ergas. It always amuses me to hear the coalition use Professor Ergas as an expert on what should be done. This is a man who ran a company that was put into liquidation. He tells us at committee after committee: 'I can't run my own company. My company went into liquidation but listen to me and I will tell you how to run the country.' What an absolute joke! Up comes Professor Ergas time and time again, telling people what they should be doing when he could not even run his own company. Maybe it was because the coalition did not pay their bills. I am not sure because he was the chief economist for the coalition in opposition and he was the guy who ran all of the coalition's arguments on economic policy. All of them were wrong; all of them were bad; all of them were crook. So do not quote Professor Ergas as some authority on anything when he could not even run his own company.

We heard the argument that there was all doom and gloom out there in the regions. I just had the good fortune to hear Mackay Sugar—what could be more regional than Mackay Sugar, a 140-year-old canegrowing company?—say that, yes, you have to put a price on carbon and yes, it is going to mean great opportunities for us. What are their opportunities? They are going to diversify their operation and they are constructing a $120 million renewable co-generation plant which will supply about one-third of Mackay's electricity. How can they do that? They can only do it because there is a price on carbon and there is a renewable energy target. It is a federal government initiative. That is the only thing they can do.