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

The best way to separate economic growth from pollution is to put in place a broad-based carbon price, and that is what the government is doing. As the senator well knows, the reasons for that are: first, you create an incentive for businesses to pollute less; second, you create an incentive for business to move to better ways of doing business and cleaner ways of manufacturing and cleaner processes; third, you create an incentive for investors; and, fourth—and this is one of the policy consequences that is not often spoken about—a price on carbon is a signal to investors about where to invest. We do not share the views that are behind what the senator is putting to me—that is, that the way forward for the Australian economy is to simply shut down particular industries. Those industries are important to our economy. They remain important for jobs and important for Australians.