Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the comments of the CEO of BlueScope Steel, Paul O’Malley, on radio this morning. He said:

When Australian manufacturing is doing it tough … the last thing you would expect to happen is for the Government to kick you while you are down … the policy is really an incentive to move steel manufacturing overseas rather than to lower carbon.

Will the Prime Minister guarantee that jobs at Australian steel manufacturers BlueScope and OneSteel will not be exported overseas as a result of your carbon tax?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I would say to the member, of course people are going to put a variety of views in this debate, but in terms of what the business community is saying to this nation, I would refer him to the fact that the following major businesses have said that they are in favour of carbon pricing.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have got to disagree with the members’ interjections. There are more businesses in this country than just the ones referred to. There is a business called BHP, for example, and BHP is in favour of pricing carbon. There is a business called Telstra which is in favour of pricing carbon. Xstrata Coal, TRU Energy, AGL Energy, Santos—

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I would ask you to draw the Prime Minister back to the question. This is about the steel industry. Telstra does not make steel, the last time I looked.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister is aware of her responsibility to make her response directly relevant to the question and I am sure that she will relate her material in that way.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked about jobs; I was asked about manufacturing. Consequently, I am giving the view of a number of businesses who would care about jobs. On businesses that deal with manufacturing I would point the member who asked the question in the direction of General Motors Holden. They are a manufacturer and they are in favour of pricing carbon. The member might want to think: why do these very big businesses, including a major manufacturing business, want to price carbon? It is because they know that the world economy is going to change. They know that our economy needs to change. They have prospered so far by innovating, by changing, by making sure that they are in front of world trends. We would not have Holden in this country if it had not been capable of innovating. If it were still making the cars of yesterday, it would be out of business. Telstra would not be a business in this country if it had not innovated. If it had said when the information technology revolution came along, ‘I know what we’ll do, we’ll stick with the fixed line network and we’ll give all of that new technology to someone else,’ Telstra would not be a big business in this country.

Businesses in this country prosper because they look at the future, they respond and they innovate and that is what putting a price on carbon pollution is about: driving innovation. I am an incredible optimist about the dynamism and strength of our business community. I am an incredible optimist about the ability of our nation’s economy to adapt to this challenge. Every lesson from history teaches me that we should be optimistic. The death of Australian manufacturing has been predicted from the days that Bob Hawke as Prime Minister determined to reduce tariffs. Everybody said, ‘That’s it, manufacturing—gone.’

Earlier this week I drove the new Holden Cruze off the production line. Claims about the death of manufacturing were wrong then and they are wrong now. Of course, as we move to this low-pollution, clean energy economy there will be businesses that need assistance in the transition. I understand that and, as we work through the policy of pricing carbon, we will obviously be looking at the needs of Australian businesses.

Opposition Member:

An opposition member—What is a car made of?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member is helpfully interjecting, ‘What is a car made of?’ I happen to know and I was driving a new car off the Holden production line this week, a business that has innovated. I say to him: stop trying to generate fear, stop underestimating Australian industry, stop talking Australian manufacturing down. They are smart, they are agile, they will keep up, they will innovate and they will prosper for the future.