Senate debates
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009; Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority Bill 2009; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges-Customs) Bill 2009; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges-Excise) Bill 2009; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges-General) Bill 2009; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) Bill 2009; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009; Excise Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009; Customs Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Amendment (Household Assistance) Bill 2009
Second Reading
11:20 am
Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source
No, Senator Conroy. I should add that I am glad you are listening. Did this quote from Martin Ferguson escape you? I wonder what he still doing in the cabinet—this quote found its way into the Australian newspaper and has not been retracted—because he is the greatest sceptic of them all. He said something that proves how useless and pathetic this scheme is. No, do not go until you hear what Martin Ferguson had to say. The prime example is that Australia’s emissions are 1.4 per cent of the world emissions, while China is something like up to 20 per cent of the world emissions. It was reported recently in the Australian by the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson—and Senator Conroy, the most political of the frontbench, scurries out of the chamber when the truth is about to be laid down. I see another one has come in—Senator Carr. Politics is all he knows. If you asked him anything at all about this scheme or any detail of it, he would not have a clue. All he would say is, ‘It sure reads well in the Herald Sun’—before you get to Andrew Bolt’s page, of course—or, ‘It sure reads well in the polls.’ That is how he analyses just about every piece of legislation, quite frankly, but more so with this.
Labor’s own minister in cabinet, Martin Ferguson, quoted this fact, which is damning of the government’s scheme. He said:
And every four months, from now until 2020, China will build new coal-fired power stations possessing the same capacity as Australia’s entire coal-fired power sector.
It is estimated that China will build between 25 to 35 new coal-fired power stations by 2020. The government’s own Minister for Resources and Energy has had the courage to stand up and put a statistic down on the table which shows how worthless this scheme is, because just one new coal-fired power station in China—and China has 35 planned to be built every four months—outdoes the whole coal industry in Australia. I repeat: Martin Ferguson said this. What is he still doing in cabinet?
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