Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

Obviously those are not words that I would use, but the senator is entitled to use them. The government has always recognised the importance of the coal industry; we also recognise the importance of climate change. We have been working on an economically responsible way to deal with climate change, an issue that we understand is not going to go away, no matter how much those on the other side might rail against it. Our view is that it is an economically sensible approach to ensure we put a price on carbon, that we utilise the revenue from that price to assist Australians to adjust to the change as we move to a low-carbon economy.