Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, ex, has-beens, but which of the government ministers will come and front this debate? What a total disgrace they are. I challenge Labor to support this bill, because Senator Lundy did not do it. I do not know whether you know, Mr Acting Deputy President, but we are certainly not hearing it from anybody on the Labor benches. Do you know why? You will know, Mr Acting Deputy President, but I must not tempt you. I will tell you why. Labor do not want to set targets, either, because the coal industry does not want them to set targets. In the last 48 hours ExxonMobil have said they want a carbon tax. Watch it! Sir Nicholas Stern, who will be here next Wednesday at the Press Club, says $110 per tonne is the price that is required to get us back on track. You will not find ExxonMobil supporting that. If we get a proposal for a carbon tax from either side of the big parties, we will get some proposal—one-tenth or one-fifth of that price—which will fail to have the impact that we need to have if we are really thinking about this nation’s future.

The Greens proposal—this bill—would greatly enhance the Australian economy. It would be a massive job producer. It would be an enormous boost to technology so that the Australian citizen—the billionaire we saw on SBS last night—would not have to repeat the solution to his obstruction in this country and go to China and make his billions out of renewable energy. He was essentially forced out of here by the Howard government’s delinquency. Isn’t it time we took the advantage of this legislation to boost business, to boost jobs, to boost export income and, most importantly of all, to secure and to keep the intergenerational compact we should with our kids and our kids’ kids?