Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Pratt for her question. The recently published Pew Charitable Trusts report of last year highlighted that in the period between 2005 and 2009 clean energy investments throughout the G20 increased by 230 per cent. What it also highlighted was that Australia was falling behind its G20 counterparts and that present calculations indicate that Australia ranks 14th out of the 20 countries. So it is little wonder that business has reacted with dismay as the Liberal Party turns its wrecking ball on this very important economic reform that has been initiated by the government

What the Liberal Party are doing is essentially seeking to cripple confidence. They are killing jobs, they are posing a sovereign risk to this country, they are posing a risk to investment and they are exposing Australia to international ridicule. They are pandering to the Flat Earth Society in the hope that they can impress a few knuckle-dragging senators from some of the outlying parts of this country. But of course they are not impressing the business community in this country. They are not impressing those in the Liberal Party—