Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

If we are to speak about the bill before us, then let's speak about the bill before us. It deals with scope 1 emissions, as indeed the safeguard mechanism did under your government. I think the most surprising thing is that a framework that was established by your government, a framework that you supported up until the election last year, is now a framework that you say you can't support. Based on the contributions from your senators over the course of the debate, I fully expect that you will not vote for this bill at the conclusion of the debate. It's mystifying. This is your policy, a policy established by your ministers, the parameters of which are well understood. You said no to any changes to it before you even understood what they might be. You refused to engage. It's a very surprising approach indeed, particularly for a group of people who weren't able to settle an energy policy over the period that they were in government. I recognise your aversion to contemplating that past, Senator Duniam, but I might make the point that, just occasionally, looking at the past can prove fruitful. It might be that it's something that you and your colleagues want to consider as you think about charting your path forward.