Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The truth is we will reduce emissions by 160 million tonnes by 2020, and that is there in the modelling. I know they want to come in and selectively quote figures. That is the truth of it. And because we are putting a price on carbon we are going to drive investment in renewable energy, we are going to become much more energy efficient. That is going to be very good for our economy. It will take carbon pollution out of the atmosphere; it will be good for the environment. It will be a long-term reform that will continue to see our economy grow strongly. That is the sort of tough reform that I was talking about before in my answer about the census.

Over 100 years, because Australia has faced up to these big decisions, because we have put in place the long-term reforms, the great economic reforms of the eighties and nineties and now the big economic reforms like pricing carbon and putting in place a resource rent tax—these are the reforms that will drive prosperity into the future. But, as I said before, those on that side of the House are reactionaries. We on this side of the House are progressives because we understand you need to be ahead of the curve of history. And if you are going to maximise your prosperity in the Asian century you need to get the policy settings right. Sometimes it means taking some difficult decisions. This is a difficult decision, but it is the right decision for Australia. After 1 July so many of the exaggerations that come from those opposite will be proven to be false and we can get on and have a realistic debate about how we make this a better country, how we make our economy more prosperous and how we have a better society with a cleaner environment.

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