Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition is displaying the same bad judgment when it comes to climate change. Now, remember this: on both sides of the House both major parties agree that we should cut our emissions by five per cent by 2020. The debate is not about how much we should cut them by; the debate is about what is the best and cheapest way to do that. The advice from Treasury is that the opposition's plan will be twice as expensive as the government's plan. The Australian Industry Greenhouse Network on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald says the same thing. That is, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Coal Association—all major Australian industries under the banner of the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network—are saying the same thing: that the opposition's plan to cut emissions by five per cent by 2020 is twice as expensive as the government's.

Mr Deputy Speaker, think about this: if you had to drive a car from Canberra to Sydney and you had a choice between two cars, one which cost $50 in petrol and the other which cost $100 in petrol, you would—because you are a smart man—choose the cheaper one. Anyone with any nous would. It is as simple as that. That is what we are doing. We are selecting the cheapest and most efficient way to cut emissions by five per cent by 2020. The fact that the Leader of the Opposition has not chosen this path goes to his economic judgment. Paul Kelly made this point in the Australian on 31 August, a couple of weeks ago:

It was said correctly of Howard before the 96 election that the public knew him and trusted him on the economy. That claim cannot not be made of Abbott.

That was Paul Kelly in the Australian in August this year and he was spot on. Remember that this is the Leader of the Opposition who slept through the vote in this chamber—five divisions in this chamber—on whether we should stimulate the economy to stop a recession. He cared so much about it then he did not even turn up for the vote. This is the Leader of the Opposition who appointed Barnaby Joyce as his chief financial adviser. This is the Leader of the Opposition who went to the last election with a $10 billion hole in his costings, and now just a year later it has blown out to a $70 billion black hole. Just to put that $70 billion black hole into perspective, that is about the same amount of cuts that the Greek government has to make. Just to put into perspective, that $70 billion is about the same size as New Zealand's budget. So he has a black hole in his budget the same size as the New Zealand budget and the same size as the cuts that the Greek government has to make. His economic judgment is so bad that he has taken to attacking every economist that does not agree with him on this issue of how we tackle climate change. Members may remember his attack on economists only a couple of months ago, when he said:

So it may well be that Australian economists think that a carbon tax and an emissions trading scheme is the way to go. Maybe that is a comment on the quality of our economists, rather than on the merits of the argument.

Do you know who this reminds me of? It reminds me of a former member for Oxley, Pauline Hanson, in her famous 60 Minutes interview in 1996. I remember when she was confronted by the facts from the department of immigration about Asian immigration which showed that her figures were not fact and that we were not being swamped by Asians. What did Pauline Hanson say then? 'They're just book figures; I don't believe them.' This is what the Leader of the Opposition is saying now: 'They're just book figures; I don't believe them.' He is acting more like Hanson than Menzies. He is acting more like Hanson than Howard.

Everything that he says now on climate change or about putting a price on carbon is proving to be wrong. Whether it is for the cement industry, steel, aluminium or Qantas, it has all turned out to be just hysterical nonsense, all made up. There is no better example of this than the coal industry. Remember what the Leader of the Opposition said about coal. He said it would be the death of the coal industry. What happened the day after we made the announcement? Peabody Coal announced the biggest takeover offer for a coal company in Australia's history—$4.7 billion for Macarthur Coal. That is a lot of money; that is not the sort of money you would invest if you thought that this was going to be the death of the coal industry. The fact is that the coal industry has a great future. The member opposite knows that. You do not need to be Bob Woodward to work that out. Remember Watergate? Remember Bob Woodward's old mate Deep Throat? What did he used to say? He used to say, 'Just follow the money.'

To work out if this Leader of the Opposition's scare campaign is genuine, just follow the money. That is what I have done. I have looked at the share registry of all of those members opposite to see if they are investing in energy or coal companies since we made the announcement of the carbon price. Last month the member for Wentworth declared shares in Winmar Resources. Senator Adams declared shares in the Woodside Petroleum group, BHP, Duet and Ski Construction. Senator Cash took shares in Asciano group, BHP, Amoco, OneSteel and Woodside Petroleum. Senator Fisher declared shares in Reclaim Industries, Terranim and Wesfarmers. Senator Humphries declared that he bought shares in AGL Energy, APA, Bow Energy, OZ Minerals, Woodside Petroleum and Newcrest Mining. The member for Stirling bought shares in Newland Resources and GR Engineering. The member for Brisbane bought 88,333 shares in Australian Pacific Coal. It is not the sort of thing you would do if you thought the coal industry was going to die. The member for Kooyong acquired Woodside Petroleum shares. The member for Flynn bought 10,000 shares in the East Energy Resources group. Senator Ronaldson bought Galaxy Resources shares. My old mate the member for Fadden has bought shares in Conquest Mining. Senator Johnston has shares in Mt Magnet Mining and Redback Mining. Follow the money if you want to find the truth and I will tell you this: you will find it out. Since we made the announcement on the carbon price one in six members of the opposition has bought shares in resource companies, and these are the people who are going around their electorate saying it is going to destroy the coal industry and destroy the economy. They come in here and say, 'It is going to frighten off investment.' It certainly has not frightened of investment on the other side, has it?

Instead of listening to what they are saying in here, look at what they are buying and you will find out as Deep Throat said, 'Follow the money.' They are either pretty stupid or they do not believe what the Leader of the Opposition is saying. What takes the cake is the Leader of the Opposition's claim that this is all socialism dressed up as environmentalism. Who would have thought that John Howard was the red under the bed all along. If John Howard had won the 2007 election we would have an emissions trading system right now and those members opposite who were elected in the 2007 election would all have voted for it. They would have voted for the type of scheme they are opposing now, including the Leader of the Opposition. What is he saying now? Suddenly this thing that he would have voted for if John Howard was elected is socialism dressed up as environmentalism. What is he doing to try to stop socialism dressed up as environmentalism? He is organising a workers' revolt so he can replace it with a centrally planned system. It just shows how ridiculous and how desperate this scare campaign has become.

Mr Sidebottom interjecting—

Let me tell you: this party, this parliament and this country are still capable of important reform and we will prove that in the days and weeks ahead.

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