Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Whish-Wilson, it was as if the last federal election did not happen even though you stood as a candidate. It was as if it did not actually happen. The Australian public voted for this government. They voted for us to abolish the carbon tax, and here you are continuing your ALP-Greens alliance with schoolkid pranks by not providing a quorum to the Senate committee to consider these bills. What a childish act. What does that say about you and your Labor colleagues that you have to pull this sort of stunt? Typical ALP: when you cannot get your way, you pull a strike, and that is exactly what they did last week. What a crude and infantile act to try and block even consideration of this matter.

Can I just remind the Senate—and it is all very well for you to squeal, 'We don't have enough time'—as Senator Ruston and Senator Abetz correctly pointed out, we have had about 35 hours of debate on this already. This package of bills has already gone through the House of Representatives. It has already gone through the Senate. It has been considered and given scrutiny in this place. It has gone back to the House of Representatives and it is now back again. We have been up-front and said that we want to vote on this package of legislation.

Can I just remind those opposite that they are all standing here now holier than thou saying, 'Oh dear, we should retain this tax,' which we all know has not worked. But let me remind Senator Wong. Obviously, just as she forgot about the material that they took to the last federal election, she has forgotten what she has previously said on the record. On 23 February 2009, she said:

A carbon tax does not guarantee emissions reductions.

That was what she said in 2009. Then, of course, she reiterated that in an article in The Australian on 11 March 2011. She also say a carbon tax is 'not the silver bullet some people would think'. Then, of course, you have other members of the Labor Party and their views. For example, we have Nick Champion making comments to Chris Uhlmann on 11 September 2013. He said:

… I don't see why the Labor Party should necessarily stay wedded to this concept when everybody else has walked away from it in one form or another.

Then, of course, the thing that really is irritating is that anybody who dares to go against this and have a different point of view on the issue of the carbon tax is deemed an extremist—is labelled as an extremist. That would mean—it goes without saying—that all those people who then supported the coalition and our platform to abolish the carbon tax are also extremists, because they supported us.

Here we have on 23 March 2011—and we have had quite a number of these comments; I will just pick two that were made on that day—again, Nick Champion telling us that the protesters are extremists. This was backed up by Michelle Rowland also agreeing that some of these people are extreme. It reflects more on their own myopic prejudices than the views of the majority of the Australian public who voted for a repeal of the carbon tax. Can I just say that those opposite are completely out of touch and not in sync with the majority of the Australian public. Of course, the carbon tax did go up on 1 July.

Before closing, can I make some comments in relation to my own area of the Illawarra. I have spoken at length about this in the past: the impact that the carbon tax has had on an area that was dependent on steel manufacturing and on coal production. The impacts are being felt in the Illawarra due to the downturn of those industries in the Illawarra and the impact that it has had on unemployment. In the interests of allowing more people to speak, I will now conclude my remarks on this matter.

(Quorum formed)