Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I would ask that the minister look at the actual question I asked because none of it was answered. However, I also ask: is it not the case that by 2004 emissions in Australia from power generation had already increased by 43 per cent over 1990 levels, that the figure was 23.4 per cent for transport, 18 per cent for industry and 2.2 per cent for agriculture? Isn’t it the case that ABARE’s research report shows that the cost of carbon capture and storage from CO from coal-fired power would increase the cost of electricity by 17 per cent—CSIRO says 50 per cent? Minister, when will the government face up to what is obvious to everybody else in this country—that is, Australia needs a carbon levy or some other price signal to drive emission reductions?