House debates Questions without Notice

Climate Change

Wednesday, 24 November 2010 House of Representatives

Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition

2:00 pm

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to mark the third anniversary of the election of his government. I refer to his leaked caucus speech of 24 June and I ask: does the former Prime Minister believe that a carbon tax as proposed by the current Prime Minister is more likely to meet the climate challenge than the emissions trading scheme that he proposed and that she advised him to dump?

Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs

What differentiates this government from those opposite is that we believe in putting a price on carbon; those opposite do not. We accept our national and international obligations; those opposite do not. We will continue our efforts in this respect while those opposite pull up the white flag.