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

My very simple point was that in his question to me the Leader of the Opposition referred to this as my report. It is not my report, it is Professor Garnaut's report, and I believe he deserves the respect that should be shown to an expert who has acted, I believe, in the interests of the Australian nation by spending a very concentrated period putting this work together. It is very good work, and I would recommend reading it to people who are interested in tackling climate change and interested in the facts about how we address climate change in this nation.

This is Professor Garnaut's report. We are a government that is always happy to accept and see the advice of experts. Then, when you look at the advice of experts, you absorb it and you respond to it. I know seriously working through an issue is not the opposition's strong suit, but I do recommend to them that they seriously work through Professor Garnaut's report. When they work through Professor Garnaut's report they will find that it very clearly makes the case, as an economist, that the most efficient way of dealing with cutting carbon pollution is to put a price on carbon.

For people who say they are concerned about cost-of-living pressures on Australian families, this report very clearly makes the point that if you go down a different road—particularly the road that the Leader of the Opposition refers to as 'direct action' but which is really about subsidising polluters—that is a more costly road to go down. So if you care about the cost-of-living circumstances of Australians, you would reject that costly path and accept the advice of Professor Garnaut and many other economic experts that the cheapest way of cutting carbon pollution is to put a price on carbon. Clearly the member for Wentworth could assist the opposition in understanding that proposition.

It is the government's intention, as I have outlined time and time before in this House and I have outlined again today and I am happy to outline further, to put a price on carbon from 1 July next year. That price on carbon will be paid by big polluters. Because they will now have a price on carbon they will innovate and change the way they work to create less carbon pollution. We will take a section of the revenue and assist Australian households. What that means is that big polluters pay and Australian households get the assistance. The Leader of the Opposition's plan is to take more tax off Australian families and give it to the big polluters in a plan we know will not work, courtesy of the words of the member for Wentworth. I say to the Leader of the Opposition that, rather than the fear campaign, rather than the cheap political points, he should read all of the report, think about it, move away from this path of negativity and actually try to make a contribution to this debate.

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