Senate debates

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges — Customs) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges — Excise) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges — General) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Excise Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Customs Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Amendment (Household Assistance) Bill 2009 [No. 2]

In Committee

4:37 pm

Photo of Penny WongPenny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to nickel, I think it is always very useful to get facts on the table about movements in price, because there are some in this place who seek to suggest that the world will come to an end if we start to recognise the costs of climate change through our economy. And I believe I had interchanges with Senator Macdonald and Senator Boswell about cement previously. I will just make an observation about the movement in the world nickel price over the last couple of years. My advice is that that has varied between in excess of $55,000 and $18,000 over two years. So there has been a 70 per cent fluctuation in the price of nickel, and that is not unusual in the sense that there is variation on world markets. But those are the sort of market fluctuations that industry deals with. The sort of impact on revenue, before assistance, that we anticipate for this industry—and this is a rough estimation—is about three per cent. So the proposition is that somehow that is—what was it that Senator Boswell said?—’closing down industries.’ Three per cent of revenue. The reality of the scaremongering campaign is that any price impost is described as ‘closing down industry’ by those who want to stop action on climate change. We have worked enormously hard in this government, including with sensible members of the opposition, to provide reasonable transitional assistance to Australian business.

I want to make another economic point; it is this: if you believe that the world is eventually moving to a global carbon constraint, and the evidence is that it is moving, then Australia needs to be able to compete in that world. So the rationale for this reform is not only that we have to be part of action on climate change but it is also that we have to reform so that we can produce the goods and services that, increasingly, will be demanded by world markets.

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