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

We are always open to Labor working with us on energy policy as long as you drop your reckless 45 per cent emissions reduction target, as long as you drop your plan for a job-destroying carbon tax and as long as you work with us on an environmental policy that is economically responsible. We are always open to working with the Labor opposition in a bipartisan fashion in the public interest, but it'll be on the terms of doing the right thing by the Australian people and not imposing sacrifices on Australian families in a way that doesn't actually make any difference to global greenhouse gas emissions. Your policy agenda would harm the economy and would just shift emissions overseas where, for the same level of economic output, emissions would be higher. Your agenda will actually worsen global greenhouse gas emissions rather than improve them because you will just shift emissions from Australia overseas, where emissions will be higher for the same level of economic output. It is reckless policy and it is not a policy the Australian people should be supporting.