Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for his question. A carbon price is the cheapest and fairest way of reducing Australia's carbon pollution. A market mechanism will cut pollution in our economy at the least cost. There is widespread recognition of that and widespread support for that approach. Recently 13 prominent economists have said a market mechanism is the most efficient way. Industry associations, including the Business Council, have advocated that a market mechanism is the most efficient way of tackling climate change. Leaders from various religious faiths were in parliament a couple of weeks ago and advocated action on climate change. Former Liberal leaders from Malcolm Fraser through to Dr John Hewson through to the member for Wentworth all agree that a market based mechanism is the best way to tackle climate change. Finally, as the Treasurer averred to earlier, the Productivity Commission made it crystal clear in a report released last week that carbon pricing would deliver through a market mechanism any given reduction in pollution at the least cost.

We were also recently reminded that none other than the opposition leader has also supported a market mechanism in various forms, either a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme, at various points in time. But he subsequently sought to disown his own comments. Last week a journalist asked the Leader of the Opposition the following:

Mr Abbott in 2009, the interview that was aired on Monday night, you said that if you want to put a price on carbon, why not do it with just a simple tax. How has your position on that changed now?

The Leader of the Opposition responded as follows:

I was asked if, if you wanted to put a price on carbon—and I didn’t think we should put a price on carbon then …

And the Leader of the Opposition says he does not now. The only trouble with that is that the Leader of the Opposition is on the record on multiple occasions in the past supporting a carbon price. Here are a few examples. In December 2008, the Leader of the Opposition had this to say in his Daily Telegraph blog:

An emissions trading scheme probably is the best way to put a price on carbon …

In July 2009, the Leader of the Opposition wrote the following:

Still, a new tax would be the intelligent skeptic's way to deal with minimising emissions …

One would not know who he was referring to as an intelligent sceptic. Again, in November 2009, he said on radio 2UE—

Mr Pyne interjecting—

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