John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Senator Wong. Minister, I refer to the Prime Minister’s announcement last Thursday that because of ‘changed circumstances’ she was breaking her commitment made on 16 August 2010 that ‘there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead’. Can the minister inform the Senate exactly what the changed circumstances are to excuse the abandonment of the Prime Minister’s solemn promise to the Australian people? Could the minister indicate which countries have been inundated by rising sea levels since last August or which animal species have become extinct since last August? Or are the changed circumstances simply that Senator Bob Brown is now our de facto Prime Minister?