Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister that the Labor leader in Western Australia has joined Tasmania's Labor Premier and the Northern Territory's Labor Chief Minister in withholding support for the government's carbon tax. Why should the Australian people have to pay a tax that even state and territory Labor leaders do not support?

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

To the Deputy Leader of the Opposition's question: I remember the time that Premier Barnett in Western Australia was making positive statements about emissions trading. That would have been the same time that the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition were making positive statements about putting a price on carbon. In Western Australia, as I understand it, the Leader of the Opposition has been saying to the Premier of Western Australia that he is concerned about the large-scale electricity price rises that are being imposed on the Western Australian people because of actions of the Barnett government. The Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia has been making the point that Premier Barnett today, even though he has made positive statements in the past about emissions trading and as I understand it went to see an Al Gore speech when Al Gore was here a number of years ago, has now, like the Leader of the Opposition himself, changed his position. The Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia has been making the point that it is one thing for Premier Barnett to criticise the federal government when the federal government is providing extensive assistance to households; it is another thing for Premier Barnett to answer up to the fact that he is rapidly increasing electricity prices for the people of Western Australia—nothing to do with carbon price but all about the actions of the state government in Western Australia—and he, Premier Barnett, is not offering families effective assistance. That is the point of the Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia, and I can well and truly understand why he is making it—

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Make it at the state Labor conference. Oh, that's right—it's cut.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Cowan might be cut in a minute.

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

given the price rises that Premier Barnett has imposed on the people of Western Australia.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Western Australian Labor Party conference scheduled for this weekend was cancelled as state Labor did not want the Prime Minister in Western Australia talking about her toxic carbon tax?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The last part of the question is out of order. The Prime Minister has the call.

Opposition members interjecting—

Order! Do you want to hear the answer or not?

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

I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for her interest in my diary, but what I am intending to do on the weekend is to be there on Saturday and Sunday assuring Australians that everything the Leader of the Opposition has said about carbon pricing is untrue. I will be making the point on Sunday morning as the sun goes up that the coal industry is still in operation—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My question was whether the Prime Minister can confirm Labor cancelled the conference because they do not want her talking about her carbon tax in the west.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. Abuse of points of order will not be tolerated.

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

As usual, the question from the opposition is a misleading one. But let me confirm to the deputy leader that I will be on Sunday saying to Australians: there is the coal industry still working. I will be saying to Australians on Sunday: there are Australians still in jobs, and there is Whyalla still in operation, and the list goes on. I will then be proceeding to Darwin for the official bilateral visit with the president of Indonesia, President Yudhoyono.