Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

The debate we are having today in this chamber has its foundation in two unequivocal promises made by the now Prime Minister of Australia to the Australian people. On 16 August 2010, just five days before the federal election, Ms Gillard made the following promise, and a very solemn promise it was, to the Australian people. She said, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' This promise was clear. It was unequivocal and it was unambiguous. More than that, it was intended to influence the voting intentions of the Australian people and designed to encourage them to believe that if they voted for the Australian Labor Party they would be voting for a party whose platform would be that there would be no carbon tax in the event they were elected.

But it did not stop there. Ms Gillard followed up this unequivocal promise again. Just one day before the 2010 federal election Ms Gillard confirmed to the media and to Australian voters that her promise that 'there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead' was clearly the Australian Labor Party's policy position going into the 2010 federal election. Nothing could have been more clear in the minds of the Australian people who were about to cast their votes to determine who would be leading Australia the following day. The Australian Labor Party said that 'there will be no carbon tax' under their government.

Sitting suspended from 18:30 to 19:32

Just like Prime Minister Gillard, the Treasurer of Australia, Mr Swan, also sought to influence the voters of Australia prior to the 2010 election by again telling them that the Labor Party's platform was that there would be no carbon tax in the event that they were elected. What did Mr Swan say just days before the 2010 federal election? He said, and it is very explicit:

We have made our position very clear. We have ruled it out.

He ruled out a carbon tax. The explicit promise was made not once, not twice but on several occasions by the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, and also by the Treasurer of Australia, Wayne Swan, and of course by every Labor member and senator across Australia who went to the 2010 election. They went to that election on the explicit platform that, if elected, they would not impose a carbon tax on the Australian people. It is a great shame that the Senate is here today debating the carbon tax legislation—debating legislation that the Labor Party of Australia said to the Australian people they would never introduce. This legislation is a complete, total and utter betrayal of the Australian people.

This is a government that, when it comes to the issue of trust and particularly the carbon tax, is devoid of any moral compass. As Australians are now learning in so many policy areas, there is a litany of broken promises, and they expect nothing less from the Gillard Labor government. Why? The answer is very simple. The Gillard Labor government will always take the cheap, easy political option instead of taking decisions that are in the national interest and, on top of that, consistent with the promises that they made to the people of Australia in the lead-up to the 2010 federal election. Without a doubt, the next election will be a referendum on the carbon tax. Why? Because every Labor member and senator went to the last election on the basis of what we now know was a blatant lie. They betrayed the Australian people. This betrayal occurred despite what the Australian Labor Party unequivocally said to the Australian people. We should not be standing in this place today debating this legislation.

So what do we have? We have Labor MPs and Labor senators who went to an election on the promise of no carbon tax, who have now voted in the other place and who will possibly vote in this place to impose on the mums and dads of Australia the most toxic tax that they have ever seen. The price of the Australian Labor Party's betrayal is going to be felt by every mum and dad in Australia every time they pay their electricity bill and every time they go to the shops. Everything they touch will have a price increase on it because of Labor's toxic tax. If you look at the modelling, you will see that it is estimated that a carbon tax will add at least $300 a year to a family's power bill. Families in Australia are already struggling under the rising cost of living. Every time a mum or dad in Australia turns on the lights they will be paying for the Australian Labor Party's carbon tax. Despite these facts, on Q&A on Monday, 14 March, when Prime Minister Gillard was challenged about her betrayal of the Australian people, she admitted that she had walked away from her commitment to Australians that 'there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead'. Her explanation was merely 'I did not intend to mislead the voters.' What a weak, pathetic and contrived response. How can the Prime Minister stand before the Australian people and argue that she did not intend to mislead them when by her very actions, her calculated actions, that is exactly what she set out to do? The Prime Minister of Australia not only misled the voters but has now deceived them as well by introducing the carbon tax legislation. If the Australian Labor Party led by Ms Julia Gillard had any moral compass at all, they would have supported the Leader of the Opposition's motion to take this legislation to a plebiscite and give Australians a say. Let the Australian people have a say on whether or not they want to see a carbon tax introduced.