Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question again is to the Prime Minister and it refers to his previous answer when he said that no decision had been made on a taxpayer funded letter to Australian households on climate change. Can the Prime Minister confirm that a first assistant secretary of the Department of the Environment and Water Resources told Senate estimates yesterday that a draft of the Prime Minister’s climate change households letter had, in fact, already been produced for market testing and, further, that a mock-up of the brochure had been produced for market testing as well?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

That is in no way inconsistent with the answer I have given. While we are in righteous indignation about government advertising, may I draw the attention of all members of the House to page 7 of the Australian newspaper today.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It was a very clear question. It went to whether what the Prime Minister said did not exist is, in fact, being market tested, funded for by Australian taxpayers.

David Hawker (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister was asked a question which he is referring to in his answer. I call the Prime Minister. He is entirely in order.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

I was very careful in the answer I gave. Everything that I have said was absolutely true. Let me tell the House—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The level of interjections is far too high. The Prime Minister will be heard or I will take action.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me inform the House that, under the heading ‘Clean coal for the future’, a full-page ad has been taken out by the Queensland government. Given the announcement that was made by the Leader of the Opposition three days ago about the policy of a future Labor government, I look forward to his public denunciation of this advertisement of what the Queensland Premier has done. This cannot by any semblance of the imagination be justified as anything other than a blatant political advertisement. All the Queensland government are doing is announcing the expenditure of money. They are not explaining a new law. They are not telling the citizens of Queensland what their obligations are under this new law. It reads:

In an historic agreement the Queensland Government and the coal industry have announced a massive investment to ensure the future of our State’s vital coal industry, and the jobs it creates.

That is just pure political propaganda. Yet we have a deafening silence from the man who sits opposite. I look forward to the Leader of the Opposition attacking the Queensland Premier for wasting the money of the taxpayers of Queensland. This is a blatant example of the double standards of the Australian Labor Party on this issue.