Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It is a fascinating thing because you see that the same people who are wallowing in policy laziness, wallowing in a mud heap of laziness, are the ones who have stood up here and believed their leader that he will repeal the bills. Every one of them has stood up here and done exactly what they are accusing the Prime Minister of doing. They are setting themselves up for a scenario where, if they ever get into government, if they do not repeal the bills everyone will come back and say: 'Treachery and betrayal. Look at what you all said, one after the other, day after day, hour after hour. You said you would repeal the bills and you haven't and you won't.' And why won't they? We have already seen it.

What happened to ARENA? I was fascinated, Mr Temporary Chairman, to see Mr Macfarlane in the other place say that the coalition now does not oppose ARENA. Let alone going to repeal it, they suddenly do not oppose it. I recall this because I announced ARENA in July, and out came the coalition saying: 'The Greens are holding the government to ransom. Shocking policy. Terrible business. This is an extension of white shoe brigade politics'—blah, blah, blah. Now, last night, Mr Macfarlane said, 'Well, the coalition actually think this is quite a good idea.' Well thank you very much! I am so pleased, Mr Macfarlane, that you have finally come around. Except that all these people here did not know that Mr Macfarlane was going to say in the lower house that they had changed their mind, they were not opposing it and they would not repeal it. So they are still here in their policy wallowing laziness saying, 'We'll be repealing the bills.'

Senator Boswell interjecting—

And they are still over there. Apparently Senator Boswell still does not know that the coalition is not opposing the ARENA bills let alone is not going to repeal them. Fancy that! They still have not worked that out. That is another one. So already we have had the Carbon Farming Initiative, with 13 hours in this place of how terrible it was going to be for rural and regional Australia, and that it was going to be the worst thing ever. Then they forgot to tell their senators up here that on the third reading down there they got up in a wimpy little voice and said, 'Actually, we're not going to repeal the Carbon Farming Initiative.' This was after hours of saying what was wrong with it and that it was going to do absolutely shocking things across rural Australia, but suddenly they are not going to repeal it.

Then we get ARENA. They not only announced that they are not repealing it; they are not even opposing it. They have suddenly realised that this is a good idea. That is two of the bills already that they have changed their minds on. The oath in blood has become so anaemic that it is now subject to laser treatment. It will be removed altogether very shortly, this oath in blood, because we are seeing it erode as we stand here and speak. What I am loving about the contributions from over there is that I am thinking, 'You wait; all of these quotes are going to be out there in 12 months time as all the industries around Australia start engaging the bills,' which they are already doing now. They know it will be law by 1 July.

Look at the Food and Grocery Council. They are a classic. They were out there initially saying, 'Food prices are going to go up shockingly.' They put out a report based on the old CPRS, not based on this legislation, not based on Treasury modelling. Out came Kate Carnell, former Liberal leader in the ACT, absolutely bashing it and saying, 'Increase in price of food.' The Leader of the Opposition, wallowing in the lazy pool, just took the Kate Carnell line and went from one end of Australia to the other talking about food prices increasing. Then the legislation went through. What happened after that? The Food and Grocery Council went to get some consultancy done. Out they came and said, 'Actually, food prices to consumers are not going to go up as part of the carbon pricing scheme.' After the legislation had gone through, the Food and Grocery Council outcome was, 'No, the food prices are not going to go up,' but, in the policy laziness wallow, the opposition were so busy wallowing in the hole they did not even realise that the Food and Grocery Council had come out and said that prices would not rise. There was the Leader of the Opposition speaking to them yesterday, repeating all the lies about food going up that the opposition had spun into the arena, only they did not realise that the Food and Grocery Council had actually changed their mind on food prices going up.

This is going to happen week in, week out, because all of these companies, all of these umbrella bodies, are now wriggling all over the place to reposition themselves to engage and try to get more benefits out of the package as it currently stands. They are starting to engage the policy detail. They are starting to realise that there is $150 million that they can access with their food processing plants and the like. They are changing their position, while the laziness on the policy side is such that the opposition have nothing to say—nothing to say on the detail—just lots and lots and lots of the same 30-second grabs. But they do not work in the committee stage.

So, if you have amendments, bring them forward. This is the time to deal with them now. We need more than just a date change. What are your amendments to this emissions trading scheme? What are they? Bring them down here and let us actually debate the detail of those amendments, or else just go back to your policy vacuum. Just go back to wallowing in your big, lazy hole. It is going to bury you, because you will not repeal these bills. Business will not allow you to repeal these bills. What is more, as this becomes law and business engages with it and the pressure comes on not to repeal the bills, you are going to find yourselves in an extraordinary position, because you will not be able to go into the next election with that policy position. The problem for your leader is that he has hung himself out on that particular issue. The real question is going to be: how are you going to get out of the mess you have got yourselves into as the country starts to take on this legislation and people really engage with how they are going to develop it and work with it?

Far from imagining that there is any kind of merit in an argument that says a default position continues indefinitely and it needs to have some sunset clause, there will be no sunset clause, in the sense that this country has made a decision to reduce emissions ad infinitum into the future, consistent with the science. That means there is no longer an option for Senator Joyce and the other denialists on that side of the house to pretend that we are not going to take action on climate change. We are. Let us hear your specific amendments.