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

I am not sure what it is that has come upon the opposition in recent days and is particularly on evidence today, but they seem to be in denial of all of the fundamentals of economics, particularly market economics. Maybe since they started using One Nation to generate their budget figures they have lost any understanding of what makes a competitive, modern economy. It follows from basic economic principles—and the economic commentary about this is wide in Australia; it is worldwide—that the most efficient way of dealing with carbon pollution is to put a price on carbon. Why? It is because it causes people to innovate, to reduce their exposure to that price and to reduce the amount of carbon pollution that they are generating. This is simply not capable of being denied. It is the same as trying to deny that demand and supply have an impact on prices. It is a basic economic rule.

Consequently, I have said in this parliament that we will work with people of goodwill through the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee to put a price on carbon. I know that sitting amongst the coalition are people who would prefer to be part of that process—who accept the science, who accept that pricing carbon is the most economically efficient way to do it and who were prepared to work with the government in pricing carbon under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

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