Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Joyce. One of the difficulties in this is always the opposition's continued opposition to it. That is how they seem to be yelling about it. But the premise of the question—or perhaps the way you have phrased it—is that in the EU they regulate, whereas we have a fixed period and then move to an emissions trading scheme. To ensure that the record is straight around this: the EU was the first international carbon market in the world and is now the largest. It has operated for nearly a decade and has delivered cost-effective emissions reductions. Trading carbon with other credible trading systems is in our national interest because it will help us reduce emissions at the lowest cost.

We have not suddenly stopped trading in goods and services with the EU simply because of the current economic circumstances. In fact, if you look at the EU as a bloc, it is Australia's largest trading partner, accounting for over $90 billion worth of two-way trade. From 2015 that trading relationship will include carbon as well. Australia will have the same carbon price as 30 other countries with a combined population of 530 million, and this government is in discussions with schemes being developed in China, Korea, New Zealand and California—