House debates Questions without Notice
Carbon Trading
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
2:11 pm
My question is directed to the Treasurer, and I refer him to his interview on The 7.30 Report on the ABC on budget night where he refused to answer a question on past Treasury advice on carbon trading.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Government Members:
Government members interjecting—
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
It was a spectacular performance by the Treasurer.
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The member for Lilley will commence his question again, and he will be heard.
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
I refer the Treasurer to his interview on The 7.30 Report on budget night where he refused to answer a question on past Treasury advice on carbon trading. Can the Treasurer confirm that the government rejected a 2003 cabinet submission on emissions trading? Is this why Dr Henry, the Secretary to the Department of the Treasury, said he wished he had been listened to more attentively on climate change? Does the Treasurer believe the last four years is an unacceptable delay or an acceptable delay?
Peter Costello Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer
The government is about to receive a report on emissions trading prepared by an interdepartmental group which senior members of the Treasury have been participating in. I look forward to receiving that. As soon as the government receives that report it will announce its response, and I expect that to be a good response.
Jennie George Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Heritage
You won’t get rolled this time like you did last time.
Peter Costello Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer
Oh, yes, the former ACTU president comes in on cue. There is a former ACTU president over there, one over here, one over there and another one to come.
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The point of order is on relevance. The Treasurer said it is on his desk. Will we have to wait four years to see it?
Peter Costello Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer
Labor might regard Rod Eddington as ‘another voice’, but it regards the ACTU as a multiple chorus. I am going to go on and make another point about receiving the report on the carbon emissions trading scheme. This government will actually receive the report before it announces its policy, and it will actually consider the consequences of various emissions targets before it names that policy which it will undertake. That is quite different from the Labor approach, which was to name an emissions target. This is what the Leader of the Opposition did: he named an emissions target and then he set up an inquiry to figure out what it would mean. He said that he was going to have this target by 2050 and then he said to Ross Garnaut, ‘Go and find out what the effect would be.’ I tell you this: when you are dealing with economic consequences, when you are dealing with people’s lives, it is a much better principle to find out what the effect of your policies will be before you adopt them—and that is what this government will be doing.