Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, why is a market based solution the most effective way to drive down carbon emissions?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Dr Jensen interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Tangney will leave the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Tangney then left the chamber.

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

Thank you very much, Speaker. I thank the member for La Trobe for her question. Following the Leader of the Opposition's recent rant, it is the right question to be asking. It is good to hear the Leader of the Opposition back to his negative best, back to his over-claiming, back to his ridiculous claims about the effect of carbon pricing on our economy. It is good to see the Leader of the Opposition back to claiming that this is a 'wrecking ball in our economy', when we know that our economy has continued to grow with carbon pricing and when we know that more than 150,000 jobs have been created since carbon pricing came into effect.

It is good to hear the Leader of the Opposition back to his best when he misclaims the impact of cost-of-living changes from carbon pricing. We have all been through the 'astronomical increases in the cost of living', where of course the change in the cost of living is exactly what was anticipated. And the Leader of the Opposition finally had to concede that he could not take away from families the assistance that had been provided to them, because it was making millions of families better off.

It is good to hear the Leader of the Opposition back to his best, too, when he is trying to deny the fact that government policies between carbon pricing and the renewable energy target have meant that carbon pollution is coming down. To take one example of that: emissions from electricity are already down by 7.7 per cent in nine months.

But why I particularly appreciated the Leader of the Opposition's address today is I sat here yesterday in question time bemused by the interventions of the shadow Treasurer. I was absolutely bemused by those interventions. The Leader of the Opposition has been going around the country with his fear campaigns—'Whyalla wiped off the map'; 'This great big new tax'; 'This wrecking ball in our economy' and on and on it has gone—and then the shadow Treasurer comes in yesterday and he is chiding the Deputy Prime Minister because the carbon price is, in his view, 'vanishingly small'. Well, it cannot both be true, can it—a 'huge wrecking ball' and 'vanishingly small'? Who is in charge on the opposition frontbench—the Leader of the Opposition with, 'Its so big' or the shadow Treasurer with 'Its so small'?

To the shadow Treasurer who came in with that critique yesterday: one wonders why he would bother abolishing a tax which he is chiding for being too small. One question the opposition has never answered, though—and this is the key question for the forthcoming election—is whether their direct action policy is going to reduce carbon pollution at a cheaper rate per tonne than the government's policy? Answer that question and then we will know exactly what the opposition's plan is. (Time expired)