House debates

Thursday, 9 March 2023

Questions without Notice

Climate Change

2:15 pm

Photo of Jim ChalmersJim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's business community, including the biggest employers in this country, support the safeguard mechanism. In today's Financial Review, the president of the Business Council urges the parliament to support the legislation. He says, 'The safeguard mechanism is the best shot that we've got for providing the certainty that business and investors need.' In the same article, Origin Energy chief executive, Frank Calabria, says, 'It's a mechanism that industry can work with, and it does create certainty.' Andrew McKellar of ACCI says, 'We are strongly urging that there is a bipartisan approach on this and that we get a reasonable outcome that will encourage investment.' Innes Willox of Ai Group says that it is essential policy infrastructure. The Ai Group's Tennant Reed says it is greatly desirable for the bill to pass.

Business is urging this Leader of the Opposition and the coalition to back the safeguard mechanism in this parliament. It's not an unreasonable request, given it is the former government's policy in the first place. For too long in this country, the opportunities of cheaper, cleaner and reliable energy have gone begging in our economy because of the pig-headed approach of those opposite and all of the investment uncertainty and policy uncertainty that that has created. This Leader of the Opposition is proving that he is more negative than Tony Abbott and more divisive than the member for Cook. He's showing that all of them are willing to trash the reputation of those opposite as being the 'party of business'. If those opposite vote against this legislation, they are voting against cleaner and cheaper energy and the future prosperity that— (Time expired)

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