Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

It just seems to be very sensible. Senator Cash says it is because they will lose. That is the reason this government does not have the courage to stand up for what it believes in and take this legislation to the next election—it knows it will lose. We know it will lose because I and my colleagues on this side of the chamber and in the other place have been out there on the ground speaking to people on the streets, in the villages and in the communities for years and years about this issue. They tell us overwhelmingly that they do not want a carbon tax.

On the North Coast recently I conducted a poll in the newspaper. Of course it was not a detailed poll like some of them are, but I thought it might give us a bit of an indication. We asked people to vote on a simple question: do you want a carbon tax? Two people were undecided, 136 wanted a carbon tax and 1,591 people did not. I know it was not conclusive poll, I am the first to admit that, but you do not have to be a kindergartener to figure out that it gives you a reasonably good indication of what people on the ground are thinking. Those people who want a carbon tax had just as much opportunity to respond to my poll as those who do not want one. So if it is the case that people want a carbon tax, why did they not respond? It is because they know that this legislation is not going to achieve what the government wants it to. They know it is going to be a whacking great tax that will not make the slightest bit of difference to the climate. They know that. The Australian people are not stupid; they know what is going on here.

When you look at the Clean Energy Bill 2011, you can see that among its objects it intends:

(b)   to support the development of an effective global response to climate change, consistent with Australia’s national interest in ensuring that average global temperatures increase by not more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels;

Support the development of an effective global response! Nobody else in the world is doing what we are about to do. It is a fact. The Productivity Commission even said recently:

… no country currently imposes an economy-wide tax on carbon emissions or has in place an economy-wide permit scheme.

So why are we doing this? Why are we the ones who have to be out there on the world stage leading the way, when no other country is doing what we are about to do? Even back in 2007, the Productivity Commission said:

Independent action by Australia to substantially reduce GHG emissions, in itself, would deliver barely discernible climate benefits, but could be nationally very costly.

You think? You only have to look at what the government is putting forward to see the cost impact this is going to have. You know that this is going to have an enormous impact on our families, and our families get it. They get it. Why are we doing this? I take senators back to 16 June, when Senator Boswell asked during question time:

My question is for the minister for climate change. Can the minister explain what purpose it will serve for Australia to enter into a carbon tax when our emissions are only 1.4 per cent but, in comparison, China's carbon emissions will rise by 496 per cent and India's emissions will rise by 350 per cent by 2020?

Do you know what the minister, Senator Wong, said in response?

The answer to it is this: because Australians are not slackers.

There is a good reason for us to impose on the Australian people a massive great tax that is not going to change the climate one little bit: because, apparently, we are not slackers. I am sorry; I actually require a bit more than that as a reason for the government of a nation to impose a carbon tax that is going to reconfigure our economy and hit regional communities harder than anywhere else but will not make the slightest bit of difference to the climate. The legislation before us is probably the worst piece of legislation we have ever seen in this place.