Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment, Senator Cormann. The Minister for the Environment consistently states that he is confident that the Emissions Reduction Fund will easily meet Australia's five per cent reduction target. Given modelling by RepuTex and Sinclair Knight Merz to the contrary, has the government prepared any modelling to substantiate the minister's claims? If so, when and when will it be released?

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my right!

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

If Senator Milne is concerned about the capacity of Australia to meet our emissions reduction targets, what she should look at is our track record. Our track record here in Australia is that we are actually consistently meeting and exceeding our emissions reduction targets, contrary to the performance of various jurisdictions in other parts of the world that are making very ambitious claims in relation to these matters.

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I asked the minister about modelling. Would he come to the point, please?

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has over three-quarters of the time left to give his answer.

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

I effectively answered the question in my first couple of words. The government absolutely stands by our assertion that we will comfortably meet the emissions reduction target that we have committed to in a bipartisan fashion. What I would also say to the Senate is that Senator Milne has absolutely no credibility when it comes to emissions reduction efforts, because Senator Milne is the leader of a party that stands for regular reductions in the real value of the excise on fuel. Senator Milne is the leader of a party that stands for a proposition that we should give money collected from big oil companies back to those big oil companies.

Senator Milne is the Leader of the Greens political party who has led the Greens from the wilderness into the political desert of oblivion. We do know that the member for Melbourne, Mr Bandt, is out there waiting in the wings to lead the Greens out of the desert and back into greener pastures. So when Senator Milne comes in here and talks about the capacity of Australia to meet emissions reduction targets, if she wants to have any credibility whatsoever in relation to these matters then the first thing she should do is indicate the support of the Greens political party for the validation of the regular indexation of the excise on fuel that has been announced by the government in the budget and was initiated this week.

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for confirming that there is no modelling and no evidence base for the minister's claims. The Prime Minister has said for three years, 'Axe the tax.' Given that a baseline and credit scheme is a tax, does the government now concede that it is introducing a carbon tax or is it a sleight of hand? And is it the case that the government will never, ever require the big polluters to pay a penalty?

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

No amount of verballing by Senator Milne will change the answer I gave to the first question. The government has delivered on the commitment that we made to the Australian people at the election. We have successfully scrapped the carbon tax, which is very good news for families and businesses across Australia. It will help ensure that we can build a stronger, more prosperous economy and become more competitive internationally again.

Furthermore, what we have also indicated in the lead-up to the last election and the election before that is that we would seek to achieve our emissions reduction target by providing positive incentives to businesses and individuals across Australia to do the best they can to help us meet that emissions reduction target. We are doing that through a market based mechanism—the Emissions Reduction Fund—through which we will tender for the best-value opportunities to achieve emissions reductions across Australia. It is a great day for Australia today, because today we will give practical effect to that. (Time expired)

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. There is no confirmation about the modelling, so I will try again. Did the minister agree with the Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, when he said:

Having the government pick projects for subsidy is a recipe for fiscal recklessness on a grand scale … industry and businesses attended by an army of lobbyists are particularly persuasive and all too effective at getting their sticky fingers into the taxpayer's pocket.

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

The only fiscal recklessness that we have experienced in recent days is the fiscal recklessness of Senator Milne, the current Leader of the Greens, who is suggesting that she wants to facilitate a windfall for big oil companies. We know that the current Leader of the Greens is very keen to ensure that additional revenue is collected from people across Australia who are purchasing fuel at the fuel pump. Senator Milne is very keen to ensure that that money is not invested in productivity-enhancing infrastructure and is not invested in ensuring that we can grow a stronger, more prosperous economy so that people across Australia can get ahead. Senator Milne wants to ensure that it goes back into the pockets of big oil companies. When Senator Milne, the current Leader of the Greens, comes into this chamber trying to sanctimoniously lecture us, she should first consider the position that she is promoting in relation to these matters. (Time expired)