Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Virtually identical but with the wind farm addition. I want to make sure my answer in terms of UBS is consistent. On the issue of the UBS report—and I think this is consistent with Senator Wong's answer because I am looking at a similar briefing note—the vast majority of economists, the most respected economic organisations in Australia and the world, and the majority of the investment community agree that the price on carbon is the cheapest way of cutting carbon pollution. I do note that the fall in European carbon prices referred to in the UBS report has been due to the wider debt crisis in Europe and is unrelated to carbon markets. I could talk extensively about the European debt crisis and the impact on carbon marketing but I am not going to because I want to get to the issue of the wind farms. It is not correct to assert that the European Union's emission trading scheme has had no impact.

Opposition senators interjecting—