Senate debates
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Bills
Clean Energy Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Customs) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Excise) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Household Assistance Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Auctions) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Fixed Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge — General) Bill 2011, Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011, Climate Change Authority Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011; Second Reading
10:43 am
Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source
Through the chair, I was directing my remarks at Senator Polley—and all those on the other side. I did not hear one of you say before the election: 'By the way, I am going to be standing in the Senate saying: I absolutely support a carbon tax. I couldn't get a carbon tax in quick enough.' In fact, we have to get it in so quickly, we have to truncate the processes of the Senate, so we cannot actually question you properly.
Senator Polley interjecting—
Senator Polley, any time you want to stand up in here and tell me what you told your electorate before the election, you can do so. In fact, there is an opportunity for you to give a speech in this place to clarify for your electorate exactly how you are going to vote on this matter.
It is with great sadness that I stand in this place somewhat confused. We have reached an all-time low not only in how the government treat parliament but, through that process, how they treat their nation. It is with the utmost arrogance that they believe they will somehow get away with this. They will somehow go through this process and all will be forgiven. It will be all right. They think that they will get to the election and Australians will forget what they have done to them and will forget that they put their personal interests and the interests of their party before this nation. Let me tell you: they will not.
This is a toxic tax that does nothing for our national interest. It is a toxic tax that does absolutely nothing for the global environment. It is a toxic tax that does absolutely nothing for individuals, for families and for communities that are currently doing it very, very hard. They care, and they care sufficiently, and they understand all those things. They were very concerned about that before the election. As I said, I commend the Greens for their consistent approach: lemmings but consistent. But those on the other side, who have said to Australians, 'We are not going to have a carbon tax if you vote for us' lied to the Australian people, and the Australian people cannot wait to get to an election. I cannot support this toxic tax. (Time expired)
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