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

Regardless of the timing, I would invite Mr Abbott, while he is overseas, to perhaps talk to his conservative colleague about the wisdom of his position. Let us remember, Margaret Thatcher is amongst the many people on the conservative side of politics who recognised the importance of the issue of climate change. And regardless of the various political differences in the United Kingdom, we have seen consistently from both sides of politics there—all major parties, I should say—a recognition of the importance of dealing with climate change and of the importance of pricing carbon as a way to deal with it in an economically efficient way. The reality is that Prime Minister Cameron's position is far closer to the Labor government's position than it is to Mr Abbott's position and that of his conservative colleagues. That is the reality of the position and that is the oddness of the policy position that Mr Abbott holds.

One would have thought that conservatives might actually think that there is a role for sensible economic policy. Sensible economic policy would be to price carbon. Sensible economic policy is not, as Mr Abbott is proposing, to tax Australian families in order to fund big polluters.