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

The government will continue to work with all reasonable people right across the Senate and right across the community. We are committed to reforming the RET because we are committed to building a stronger, more prosperous economy. We are committed to reforming the RET because we actually want to ensure that Australian manufacturing has a chance to be competitive internationally and that we can continue to compete with businesses in other parts of the world that are not facing the sorts of government imposed cost pressures that manufacturing businesses in Australia are exposed to.

That is of course why we have put to the Labor Party—and we will put to anyone in the Senate and indeed across the parliament: work with us to ensure that our energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries are protected from the excessive pressure that the RET in its current form is imposing on them; work with us to ensure that we protect jobs and can create more jobs into the future by helping Australian business to be internationally competitive. (Time expired)