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

I am happy to deal with the aspects of the question which fall within my portfolio, but the senator should recall that I no longer represent on climate change and have not for some time. In terms of the carbon price, the government have made clear already, I think, on the public record that we will update our estimates of that particular price, as with all other parameters, in the usual way in the budget which will be handed down by the Treasurer at 7.30 tonight.

I also remind the senator that, if he is concerned about economic policy, he surely would be concerned about the cost of his own policy, which is some $1,300 for every household in Australia for every year to achieve the same environmental outcome. The ridiculous position that the opposition are in is that they, who are supposedly the free marketeers in this place, support a bureaucratic, taxpayer funded, expensive scheme. We hear this often. We get Senator Macdonald raving about regulation. Have a look at your climate change policy. It is nothing but regulation and expense for Australian families. So the party of free markets, on that side, are supporting a taxpayer funded, inefficient, bureaucratic scheme, and the party on this side, consistent with all sensible economists, have said that pricing carbon and using the market are the most efficient way and lowest cost way for Australia to reduce its emissions.