John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

that would be damaging to us because the same obligations would not be imposed on countries with which we are competitors. Our reason for not endorsing Kyoto—ratifying it or whatever description you want to use—is that it would damage this country’s interests unless we can have an international arrangement which includes the great emitters of the world—for example, the United States and China. Effectively, about 32 per cent of the world’s emissions are covered by those who have ratified Kyoto.

This country emits 1.6 per cent of the world’s global emissions. It has been said before that, if we closed down everything in this country tomorrow, in nine months the emissions that were saved by the closure in Australia would be equalled by the addition to emissions by China. That is the scale of the international problem. The Leader of the Opposition knows that. He can have his little debating points. He can turn around and look self-satisfied about having scored a debating point, but nothing can absolve him from the fact that he is advocating a policy that would put us at a competitive disadvantage with many of the countries against whom we must compete in a global environment. I want to make it very clear to him and to the rest of the House that, in responding to climate change, this government has no intention of damaging the competitive position of Australian industry.

See this speech in context