Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

The preamble to that question by Senator Di Natale was clearly an attempt to get back into the bosom of the Labor Party when it comes to policy on climate change. We know what would happen if Labor and the Greens got into government, which is the indication of his preamble. If Labor and the Greens got back into government, do you know what would happen? They would put in place a carbon tax. It would push up the cost of electricity. It would harm the economy. It would harm investment. It would put jobs at risk. It would make Australians poorer—all just to shift emissions overseas, where, for the same amount of economic output, emissions would be higher. You would be forcing Australian families to make sacrifices for something that would actually make the world climate worse off. That is not sensible climate policy, and that is why we're continuing to pursue the policy agenda that we're pursuing.

You go your hardest at the next election. Tell people that you want to see higher electricity prices—you, together with the Labor Party.