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

I believe that the question is essentially a more articulate exposition of Mr Abbott's sovereign risk argument. We are intent on providing a competitive environment for business investment in Australia, which is one of the reasons we want to pass the mining tax—to reduce company tax rates. We have also seen, contrary to quite a bit of scare campaign rhetoric from Mr Abbott, investment continuing in the mining sector, in the resources sector and also in the coal industry, notwithstanding the fear campaign that the opposition has been engaged in.

As the world moves to increasingly paying a premium for low-carbon goods and services, we do have an economic interest in ensuring that there is more investment channelled to the clean energy jobs of the future and to the clean energy technologies of the future, and that is the important role played by a carbon price.