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

Thank you, Senator Mason. It is the people's assembly. I find it quite concerning that last year China actually burnt 3.2 billion tonnes of coal—that is, 3,200 million tonnes of coal. They increased their consumption of coal last year by 434 million tonnes. Last year, Australia produced a total of 420 million tonnes of coal, yet China's consumption went up by more than that in just one year.

The Greens are saying: 'Give us extended hours. Let's rush this through before the end of November.' Yet they are not saying, 'Hang on, China's CO2 emissions a year are currently 10.3 billion tonnes'—yes, that is 10,300 million tonnes—'and by 2020 will go to 17.9 billion tonnes.' I must acknowledge here my colleague Senator Cormann, who gave me those figures, which were put out by Treasury. China's CO2 is going to go up by 7,600 million tonnes a year by 2020, but we stand here in this chamber debating time extensions to rush this legislation through Australia's parliament. The 578 million tonnes of CO2 that Australia is producing, excluding bushfires, which will be another big threat this summer after the last couple of wet seasons, will go up by 43 million tonnes a year by 2020. Then we will go into buying those credits from overseas. That will be the joke of jokes: fraudulent carbon credits exposed at billions of dollars. By 2020 we will be buying $3.5 billion in credits from overseas. We will be spending that much money but who will be checking that they are genuine? You know what I think about this carbon tax, Mr Acting Deputy President.