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

The first point I would make is that the emissions reduction target that is the policy of this government is precisely the same as the emissions reduction target under the Turnbull government, so I'm not quite sure what Senator Hanson-Young is referring to there. In relation to the other comments, I just remind Senator Hanson-Young again that it was the Greens, of course, that voted with Liberal-National senators to ensure that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme would not become law. I thought at the time that was because you wanted to protect the Australian economy from an excessive tax which would harm growth in a way that would actually not have reduced emissions but which would have just shifted emissions overseas where, for the same level of economic output, emissions would have been higher. It sounds like you're having second thoughts and that you're now trying to come back at it from the other side, but our position remains consistent. Our position is, as it has always been, that we want to reduce emissions in a way that is economically sensible, and that is our policy.