Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. The minister of course is well aware that Europe also has free permits, and of course she always forgets to mention that. Why is the Gillard government introducing the world's biggest carbon tax, which will do nothing to reduce global emissions, when no other nation is imposing a similar burden on its export and import competing industries and households, because that is exactly what you are doing? You are imposing an economy-wide carbon tax which is the biggest in the world.