Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will continue where I was before I was cut off last night. As I was saying last night, the reason this legislation needs to go through is that the carbon tax has not only been about destroying jobs. The carbon tax has also been about pushing up the cost of living for ordinary Australian families—all the while doing nothing for our environment other than shifting emissions offshore. As I said yesterday, this vote will mark a shift. It will mark a shift from the Greens being able to dictate the policy of this nation, as they did under the former Labor government. It will mark a shift from the Greens dictating terms to the Labor Party, telling them what their policy will be on climate change, to a position where the Australian people regain control of the debate on climate change. Australians want to see action but they do not want to see this carbon tax. It was put to them at the election. It was put to them again at the WA Senate election, where we saw five out of six senators who were elected running against the carbon tax.

The Labor Party may have reneged on their commitment to repeal the carbon tax, but we will not. So I welcome the support of crossbench senators to get this legislation through, because when we pass this bill we will see pressure taken off families as their electricity costs, gas costs and other costs come down. We will see businesses able to thrive without this toxic tax on their businesses, and we will see the Australian people back in control of our response to climate change. I commend these bills to the Senate.