Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

We want the small business sector to have certainty, we want larger businesses to have certainty, we want the economy as a whole to have certainty, and we want families to have certainty around how the renewable energy target will operate. It is very important that as we reform the policy settings for the renewable energy target that we provide certainty to the market—of course. But we need to do it in a way that actually does not expose the Australian economy to a disadvantage when we are competing for business in the world. Right now cost pressures that are faced by Australian businesses as a result of the way the renewable energy target is currently operating makes Australian businesses that are competing in a global environment less competitive than those businesses that we are competing with overseas. We want Australian businesses to be more competitive, in particular, because we are actually overwhelmingly environmentally more efficient. Our aluminium sector here in Australia is environmentally more efficient— (Time expired)