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

I am pleased Senator Williams now talks about business certainty. The biggest threat to business certainty is those opposite saying that they are going to withdraw it and rule out a carbon price into the future. That will create the biggest uncertainty for business. Quite frankly, it is extraordinary that Senator Williams raises the issue of business certainty when the biggest risk is the coalition ripping away business certainty because of the attitude it has adopted in relation to the carbon price. Those opposite are not going to protect business. Businesses have more certainty now than ever before with the introduction of this carbon price and with it moving to an emissions trading scheme after a fixed price period. Let us not misunderstand the significance of this announcement. We have negotiated linking in a scheme which covers 530 million over 30 countries. (Time expired)