Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I take it from the minister’s answer that he is critical of Mr Macfarlane’s statements, because Mr Macfarlane says that he has an open mind on just such a scheme. Does the minister agree with Mr Macfarlane, who has said that there is no prospect of a global carbon emissions trading scheme being in place before 2012? Isn’t that why Mr Macfarlane is now advocating the need for an interim scheme at a national or regional level, which the minister apparently disagrees with? When does the minister think that a global trading scheme is likely to be in place? And does he maintain that Australia should do nothing until then?