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

No. 1, I remind the Leader of the Opposition that carbon pricing does not start till 1 July. No. 2, I remind the Leader of the Opposition that the impact on air travel is in the order of a few dollars per flight. No. 3, I remind the Leader of the Opposition that that impact has been modelled into the assistance that families and households are receiving. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that 3.2 million pensioners are, as we speak, receiving the first round of additional assistance in their bank accounts, which will be followed up next March and be ongoing; that 1.5 million families around the country are receiving assistance into their bank accounts as well. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that he is a man who has made many false claims about carbon pricing, all of which will be shown to be untrue on 1 July. He said prices rises will be unimaginable; he will be shown to be wrong. He said power bills will jump by 30 per cent; he will be shown to be wrong. He said the coal industry will shut down; he will be shown to be wrong. He said entire towns like Whyalla will be wiped off the map. So, when the sun sets on 1 July and none of those things has come to pass, then this destructive negativity from the Leader of the Opposition will be revealed to the Australian people for what it has always been—him trying to run a political fear campaign and prepared to engage in any level of distortion to do so.

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