Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have a policy, do not worry about that, and, as I said before, our policy is that we voted it down. How much more of a policy could you get than that?

But I want to return to the issue of the day that we have raised, which you have just brushed aside—forget about the jobs in the steel industry. BlueScope has just reported a severe decline in its profit for the coming year, a 30 per cent reduction in the price of steel for future contracts. So they are facing hard times. You can talk about recovery but it will not be coming to BlueScope Steel for some time. The CEO alerts you, and it has been read out today, that one of the greatest risks to their viability—not profitability, viability and competitiveness internationally—is the ETS, and you just brush it aside because politics is No. 1 and the second one is the tax grab.

I know that Senator Forshaw and Senator Hutchins and a lot of those New South Wales politicians do not believe in the scheme that you are putting forward, but they do believe in the tax grab that is coming, and I believe that the Prime Minister has his eyes on it more than anything else. If you want to take this to an election, we are happy to fight on it.

Question agreed to.