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

Those on the other side should actually listen to the argument. I was asked about economic growth and I spoke about the GNI figure and the annual growth rate. The reality is that we have two approaches to this issue. We have the Labor Party's approach and, in the great Labor tradition of caring about the future, we are on the side of pricing carbon. Again we see the coalition on the wrong side of history. They opposed Medicare, they opposed superannuation, they supported Work Choices—always on the wrong side of history. Today, again, in the House of Representatives they showed us they are the party which is not interested in the future.

We on this side of the parliament take our responsibility to the next generation seriously. We want to ensure this economy changes to one that pollutes less. We want to ensure that Australia contributes less to climate change and we want Australia to be part of the growth in goods and services that a low carbon—