Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. We have had Mr Robb and Mr Hunt write to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and ask them to break the law. What sort of behaviour is that from the coalition? It is all because they do not want $10 billion to go into renewable energy. I want to see $10 billion into renewable energy. I want to see large-scale solar rolled out across Australia and I want to see the Clean Energy Finance Corporation get that leveraging of private sector finance to drive the clean energy revolution. It is shocking when you think about what the coalition have done. They have written to people asking them to breach their statutory obligations and break the law. That is how far they are prepared to go and yet they are not prepared to drive the clean energy revolution at all. They have made no undertakings in terms of the renewable energy target and actual energy at use here. We have really got big issues with the coalition running away and hiding from actually answering some questions. That is the fact of the matter.

I invite any one of you in the coalition to get up in a minute and tell us where the money is coming from. Where are you going to get the money if you are not going to support the mining tax, if you are not going to support carbon pricing? If you are not going to do that, where are you going to get the money to maintain the tax-free threshold at $18,000? Let me just hear that for a start. Where is the money coming from? Where is the money coming from to pay the polluters? No doubt it is coming out of the pockets of those who can least afford to pay because that is the coalition's track record.

As far as the government is concerned, there is no doubt that we need to raise this money and we need to raise it now. We want the funding model for Gonski in this parliament legislated and locked in so that, whatever the election outcome, the Greens will hold the balance of power and can stop it being repealed. I can tell you that, when we get this election, there will be students around Australia and their families devastated if the new funding model has not been legislated and the funding brought forward so that it is left until 2019-20 to have it implemented. It is already shocking that a child who started school in 2007 has left primary school and they still do not have the inequitable funding model dealt with.

It is interesting that Senator Nash supports coal seam gas and loss of farmlands and contamination of groundwater across northern New South Wales, a process going on as we speak. I am interested that we are not hearing anything from Senator Joyce about the massive support the Nationals have got for coal seam gas and expansion of coal mining around the country. So much for the National having a base which is supposed to be looking after agricultural land and farmers. Far from it, their former leader is head of a coal company destroying agricultural land and forests and woodlands in the Maules Creek area for a start.

The opportunity is there to raise money and that is where the Greens stand on this. Both the coalition and the Labor Party need to start getting real on where the revenue is coming from or else all of these promises and announcements about national disability, Gonski and superannuation will count for nothing if there is no money. R&D funding is exactly the same. We are hearing about $1 billion getting taken out of research and development but only $400 million going into the jobs packet—$600 million is going to the budget to prop up whatever the election announcements are going to be from the government. The fact of the matter is, if you want to be a clever, innovative country, you need to be supporting higher education, you need to be supporting universities and TAFE. You need to be supporting students—