Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

And then you receive—hang on! We have the money go round! They have the money-go-round! And they talk about big polluters—these were the people who gave the big polluters, on their definition, $9.2 billion.

But it gets a whole lot better than that because, as the member for Corangamite has been rightly pointing out, they gave $5½ billion—no strings attached—to Victoria's brown coal generators. It would be one thing to say that we are supporting energy in Victoria. But the whole carbon tax was designed to punish, to demonise, to deride and to destroy, and yet they gave $5½ billion to Victoria's brown coal generators. Before the carbon tax even started, there was almost $250 million to Hazelwood. There was $250 million in cash—in cash!—to Yallourn, almost. And there was almost $250 million to Loy Yang, in cash. And then it goes on each year after that, until the $5½ billion is exhausted. So one sector in one state, which is the very sector that they demonise, is given $5½ billion.

It is passing strange that one does not hear these words spoken in this House by that side. They were the grand givers of corporate largesse. They are the world champions when it comes to corporate largesse in relation to anything that has happened with regard to carbon taxes. It was a money-go-round on a grand scale. So we did get rid of that carbon tax. We said we would get rid of it. We campaigned to get rid of it. And we did get rid of it. They said they would get rid of it. They campaigned to get rid of it. And then they voted to keep it.

There was a certain press conference at which the member for McMahon was present, and that was in Townsville. He was part of the famous Townsville trio! And who was it who said at that press conference, flanked by the member for McMahon and the member for Port Adelaide:

The Government has decided to terminate the carbon tax to help cost-of-living pressures for families and to reduce costs for small business.

It was former Prime Minister Rudd. There they were, the three of them together, standing up there and saying they were going to terminate the carbon tax.

Well, we did terminate the carbon tax, but we did not do it with their help. They voted against it, not just once, not just twice and not even three or four or five times, but six times: three times in the House and three times in the Senate. Just remember this:

The Government has decided to terminate the carbon tax to help cost-of-living pressures for families and to reduce costs for small business.

They knew it was hurting families. They knew it was hurting small businesses. They declared before the 2010 election that it was not going to happen and they declared before the 2013 election that they would terminate it.

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