Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying in answering the question that was put to me, we do take the concerns of Australians seriously and that is why we have moved and will continue to move to implement measures to assist families with costs. That is why we will deliver things like the increase in the family tax benefit to assist families with the cost of teenagers. I would say to the member who asked the question that I understand that families are concerned about electricity prices. I would refer him to experts in the industry and I would refer him particularly to the quote that I took the Leader of the Opposition to before. I think it makes a real point. The TRUenergy managing director said:

We all would like a price on carbon.

               …            …            …

If it’s not done … then you will have power shortages and insufficient capacity.

This joins a chorus of other voices and analyses from the sector about the consequences of underinvestment, underinvestment which will not be rectified, and generating the kind of long-term baseload power we need until we have got the certainty of a price on carbon. I am also a little bit amazed that the member comes into the parliament apparently so in high dungeon and het up about these questions, because I would refer him to another important quote:

I also think that if you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax? Why not ask motorists to pay more? Why not ask electricity consumers to pay more? It would be burdensome, all taxes are burdensome, but it would certainly change the price of carbon, raise the price of carbon, without increasing in any way the overall tax burden.

There we have it. Whose words are they? They are the Leader of the Opposition’s words. So we have seen this Leader of the Opposition and the members behind him looking for seams of political advantage here. We will continue looking at the national interest and be driven by that.

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