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

In answer to the Leader of the Opposition's question, he has had a bit of a morning this morning. He has not only gone out and threatened to cut every public school in this country; he has finally come clean on electricity prices. He has said today that it is true that the carbon tax is not the only factor in the dramatic rise in power prices. It was a complete backflip compared with his statement in the run-up to parliament that everything else except carbon pricing was apparently a furphy. So the Leader of the Opposition has finally smacked into the reality that state Liberals do not agree with him, experts do not agree with him, the regulators do not agree with him and members of his own team do not agree with him. He has finally come clean that, yes, the dramatic increases in power prices are not about carbon pricing but are about other actions. So, for the small business—

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