Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

when those opposite are in power, you are going to pay 6.85c a litre more. You are going to pay the carbon tax. If you send off those cattle to an abattoir— and I know you have 400 employees up there at a Teys abattoir in Biloela—you pay the carbon tax. It does no matter where you go, with this crowd opposite you will pay the carbon tax.

But I think there might be a glimmer of hope on the horizon because I have been listening to some others. I found out from an article by Rob Burgess that Mr Shorten is quite capable of a policy backflip. That was said by one of his colleagues. I thought that could not be right because a man of his integrity would never backflip! But I found out that back on 30 October 2013 he said that he would stand firm in his support for a price on carbon but told Jonathan Swan on 1 November that he would terminate the carbon tax. How could a person go from standing firm beside you to terminating you? What sort of character would stand behind you and then terminate you? That is a good question for the member for Fraser, who did stand beside Kevin Rudd but then terminated him. It is also a good question for the member for Sydney, who stood beside Julia Gillard but then terminated her as well.

Luckily Labor's Mark Butler has revealed that the party would look to build an alternative strategy. What is that alternative strategy? Is that alternative strategy the member for Sydney coming forward? Is that the alternative strategy? (Time expired)

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