Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Lines is up there at the back interjecting, 'We said that we would replace it with an emissions trading scheme. That is not true, Senator Lines. There is no fine print. I challenge you to show me on this flyer that was distributed to households across Australia where it says that your removal of the carbon tax—your abolition of the carbon tax—was, in any way, contingent on the introduction of an emissions trading scheme. There is no fine print here anywhere. It does not say that. You deliberately set out to mislead the Australian people in the lead-up to the last election. You knew that your carbon tax was toxic.

In a desperate attempt at the last minute to save some votes, you went out to deliberately mislead the Australian people about your intentions. You explicitly said that the carbon tax had been abolished. You explicitly said that Kevin Rudd and Labor had removed the carbon tax. You explicitly said, 'Kevin Rudd and Labor have removed the carbon tax, saving the average family $380.'