Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The 'member for Tutu' over there is rolling around in riotous laughter in search of a pair of ballet slippers. It would have been possible if he were fair dinkum. If he had any bona fides, the champion of no could have put a question to this parliament and to the Australian people in his draft bill: should we reduce our bipartisan target; should we reduce our emissions in the most cost-effective way?

We know that the Leader of the Opposition and those that follow in his cavalcade of no do not have the guts to put that proposition, because then we would have to engage in a debate about the costings. A debate about the costings would enable all Australians to see that the coalition's plan, the subsidies for big polluters plan, is in fact a tax on every Australian household to the tune of $1300 per annum. You will not see that in any of their propaganda. You will not see that in any of their speeches, but the fact of the matter is that, if we engaged in a debate about the most cost-effective way of reducing our bipartisan position on carbon emissions, we would be putting up our proposition, which puts a charge on the biggest polluters in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. We will reduce those emissions by five per cent by 2020. We will see that theirs is a tax on every Australian household of $1,300 per annum, contributing to the $70 billion black hole in their budget costings.

If they were fair dinkum, they would put that question to the Australian people, but they are not fair dinkum. They know that all they are engaged in is a political stunt with a predetermined outcome. They will say no because that is all they know how to do on that side of the House. We are engaged in a serious debate about how we can reduce our carbon pollution in this country and play our part in an international effort to reduce carbon pollution to stave off dangerous climate change.

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