Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am sad that I will have to disappoint the minister, because I was going to ask the minister some questions, but after the contribution we just had from that representative of this Labor-Greens government I have to make a few observations in relation to that. The representative from the Labor-Greens government just now insulted the Senate. The representative from the Labor-Greens government showed the dictatorial tendencies that are coming from this Labor-Greens government.

Because we are asking questions about a significant change that this government wants to impose on the Australian economy, because we want to scrutinise 1,000 pages of legislation, because we think the government should explain why it wants to impose a carbon tax which will push up the cost of everything, which will make Australia less competitive internationally, which will cost jobs, which will reduce real wages, which will just shift emissions overseas, which will make manufacturers in China, emitting more, more competitive than even the most environmentally efficient business here in Australia—because we want to ask questions about this—Senator Milne, representing this Labor-Greens administration, is saying that we are wasting the Senate's time. And here is the best one. Because we have the novel approach where we say that people across Australia deserve a say on fundamental economic change like this before a government proceeds with it, because we say that this legislation should not be allowed to come into effect until the Australian people have had an opportunity to have their say, somehow that is a 'lazy' amendment.

Let me say this to you, Senator Milne: there is nothing lazy about respecting the views and aspirations of the Australian people. There is nothing lazy about engaging in a democratic debate that is honest, upfront and transparent in the lead-up to an election. This Labor-Greens government is treating the Australian people with absolute contempt. When you have a Prime Minister like Ms Gillard, who goes to an election and gives the most emphatic commitment that any Prime Minister can make—that is, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead'—only to turn around after the election, under pressure from the Greens political party, to say, 'Yes, there will be a carbon tax under the government I lead,' we know that this is a government that is treating the Australian people with absolute contempt. And we know why this government is treating the Australian people with absolute contempt: because that is the only way that the Labor Party can cling on to power.

We know that, after all the debates that have taken place in this chamber and in other places around Australia, the Australian people now well understand that the carbon tax will do nothing to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The people across Australia well understand that the carbon tax is not effective action on climate change. I know that many people on the inside of the Labor Party understand that the carbon tax is not effective action on climate change, and many people on the inside of the Labor Party understand that the carbon tax will hurt ordinary Australians. I know that many people on the inside of the Labor Party understand that very well, but they are stuck. Because their Prime Minister went out there and made an announcement on 24 February this year to say that there will be a carbon tax—an announcement where she had deputy prime minister Senator Bob Brown standing by her side in the prime ministerial courtyard—they now know that they are stuck. For as long as there is a Prime Minister Gillard, they are stuck.

Here we have this Green tail wagging the Labor dog. We have had this conversation before, because this Labor dog is no longer in charge of running the country. This Labor dog is being wagged by the Green tail. Let me make this prediction, because here we have Senator Milne saying that the coalition would not rescind the carbon tax after the next election. Let me make it very clear, Senator Milne. The coalition will rescind the carbon tax. If you are successful in passing this carbon tax through the parliament against the express and explicit wishes of the Australian people, if you are successful in passing this bad carbon tax through the parliament even though it is not in our national interest, if you are successful in passing this carbon tax through this parliament even though it will push up the cost of everything, make Australia less competitive, cost jobs and reduce real wages without doing anything to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, we will rescind it.

Let me make it very clear. The next election will be a referendum on the carbon tax. The next election will be a referendum on whether the Australian people want this bad tax or whether they do not. Looking at the evidence out there, I suspect that the judgment is in and I know that Senator Milne knows that too, which is why the Greens are trying to use every single procedural trick in the book to ram this legislation through, to minimise scrutiny, to keep secret all of the information that could expose the many flaws in this legislation.

Let me make this prediction. If we win the next election, which will have been a referendum on the carbon tax, every single Labor senator and every single Labor member of the House of Representatives will rush to the side where the new government sits to vote with us to rescind the carbon tax. Opposition leader Bill Shorten will impose surgery on that red Labor dog. We will make sure that that green tail is amputated from the red Labor dog. There is absolutely no way that the future opposition leader Bill Shorten will continue to allow—