Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy President. I appreciate that protection from Senator Cash. What was senator Wong talking about today? She was talking about the importance of this government's policies with respect to pricing pollution. One of the great misconceptions, particularly as outlined by Senator Johnston, is that other countries are not going down the track of pricing pollution. The reality is that 90 countries representing over 80 per cent of global emissions and over 90 per cent of the global economy have made pledges to tackle climate change. It is true, as we saw last week in Europe, that other countries recognise the fact that Australia is leading in respect of dealing with the issue of pollution. But the reality is that a whole host of other countries accept, as this government does, that we must act on climate pollution.

The European Union has had an emissions trading scheme for six years and it will be expanding this scheme from the year 2013.