Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

There are any number of questions that one could raise and should raise about the government’s ill-named, in fact deceitfully named, Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. This is a government that has clearly failed to level with the Australian people, because they bought the assumption that the Liberal Party and the coalition would walk willingly with them through this forest of economic disaster and deceit. They tried to deceive the Australian people by saying they were going to create green jobs and it was not going to have any adverse impact on the world; it was going to be picked up by all countries around the world, and Copenhagen was going to be a spectacular success.

I have to say that not all Labor members did that. They were very disciplined. But a number of people felt deeply uncomfortable with this. Although Minister Garrett’s judgement is absolutely flawed in regard to the installation of insulation, he also feels deeply uncomfortable because in his heart he is a deep green movement person. He knows this is not an environmental policy; it is an economic policy that is designed to grab $10 billion—that will pick the pockets of the Australian people to the tune of $10 billion—every year by targeting big business and then pretending that big business, or business, will not pass those costs on. But of course they have also ignored the impact on small business—the heart and soul, the very driving force, of our economy—who have had their pockets picked by Mr Rudd and his team of extremists.

Debate interrupted.