Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

The non-answers given by those on the other side today to what were very, very basic questions from this side in relation to the impact of the carbon tax on the Australian people shows just how scared those on the other side are of the impact of the carbon tax. In fact Minister Wong, when asked directly by Senator Fierravanti-Wells exactly what the impact would be on self-funded retirees and whether or not any self-funded retiree would be worse off, was unable to confirm the comment from her own colleague, Senator Feeney, who said, 'None.'

It was put directly to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation whether or not the comment made by Senator Feeney was actually true and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation would not confirm that no self-funded retiree would be worse off under the Labor Party's carbon tax. So every self-funded retiree out there needs to ask themselves: 'Is it me? Am I the self-funded retiree that is going to be left worse off under the Labor Party's carbon tax?' I think Minister Wong was actually very brave to disagree with Senator Feeney, because we all know what happens to those senior members of the Labor Party who disagree with Senator Feeney: they soon find themselves on the political execution hit list. So let us just watch this space very carefully.

I see Senator Farrell sitting there with a wide grin on his face. Senator Farrell, I think your little paws are just as dirty as Senator Feeney's when it comes to the political execution hit list. Remember, the political execution hit list was in relation to Mr Rudd. Mr Rudd was taken out—why? Because the Labor Party's ETS was going to have a devastating impact on the Australian people. It was the wrong policy at the wrong time. Mr Rudd was politically executed by the Labor Party because his policy was the wrong policy at the wrong time.

It is one thing for the coalition senators to stand here and to properly criticise and scrutinise the government's carbon tax policy but, with headlines like 'Gillard Govern­ment's carbon tax to cost 23,000 jobs in Victoria' in the Herald Sun, no wonder the Prime Minister will not take this policy to an election. She knows that if she did those opposite would be on their side and we would be in government. Then, of course, you have New South Wales modelling that shows in New South Wales electricity prices will rise overnight by 15 per cent. Why? Because of the Gillard Labor government's carbon tax policy.

Paul Howes should be very pleased with this statement by BlueScope Steel. They, one of the fiercest critics of the carbon tax, have formally announced a $900 million write-down of their asset values and signalled a review of their domestic steelmaking cap­acity. This is the Paul Howes who publicly said if one job was lost because of the Gillard government's carbon tax policy he would withdraw all support for the carbon tax. Well, Mr Howes, where are you now?

Again, it is not just the coalition who are actively criticising the impact of this tax on the Australian people. Let us have a look at what New South Wales leader John Robinson told his party and the shadow cabinet. He said that he would never, ever publicly support a carbon tax. Then what happened? He crumbled under the pressure. There was also state Labor MP Bob Harrison. Mr Harrison is someone who would know the impact that this tax would have on jobs, because he was a former steelworker. He has publicly stated:

How can we believe our prime minister, unfortunately, who promised us there would be no carbon tax before the election and who just managed to scrape in?

But it does not end there. What about Mr John Della Bosca? He said:

... I think the carbon tax is a mistake. It's the craziest thing she [Gillard] could have done ...

Tony Sheldon from the Transport Workers Union describes the carbon tax as 'a death tax'. In the seat of Brand, I think that is exactly what Mr Gary Gray thinks of the tax, because the people in the electorate of Brand do not want the carbon tax. I see Senator Bishop smiling, because, Senator Bishop, you know that that is true. The current Prime Minister has failed in the task of national leadership. This week is a shameful week in this place, because it is the one-year anniversary of the greatest lie ever perpetrated on the Australian people. (Time expired)

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have just listened to Senator Cash for five minutes. Not once did she go beyond the utterance of cliche or homily—all screeched out there for five minutes without taking a breath and without saying one word of sense. Let us consider a little bit of history. Let us go back in history a little to when the first Howard government was elected in 1996. Since that time, from 1996 until now, there have been three significant packages of legislation introduced into this parliament. Two were introduced by the Howard government and one is about to be introduced by this government. The three packages are the GST legislation, the Work Choices legislation and the government's proposed carbon tax legislation. Each of those packages of legislation goes to one critical factor: it seeks to alter behaviour. In the case of the GST, it sought to alter spending behaviour. In the case of Work Choices, it sought to radically change the use of labour to make it cheaper. In the case of the clean air package, outlined by the government and shortly to be introduced, it goes to changing the behaviour of energy producers and users in this country.

In the case of the GST, any compensation that was offered by the government of the day had to be dragged out bit by bit. House­holds and families were significantly worse off, as the then government acknowledged, but it had to be done for the good of the country. Of course with the Work Choices legislation it was just about removing protections and benefits. Untold people were harmed, and their retribution was visited in the election of 2007. With the clean air package we acknowledged at the outset that there is going to be some impact on prices. It is going to affect those who are employed, it is going to affect families and it is going to affect those most in need. So what have we done from the outset? We have acknow­ledged that—we have been saying it for 12 months—and we have designed and will implement a comprehensive package of household assistance measures—

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Twelve months ago you said you didn't want a carbon tax.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How will that change their behaviour?

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that go to helping those most in need, as Senator Cash and Senator Bernardi well know. They have been out there for the last month or six weeks speaking to pensioner groups, speak­ing to community groups, speaking to those affected, and they have received the same message that every Labor senator across this chamber has, which is that the package of compensation offered by the government to households in need—those earning under $80,000—to self-funded retirees and to pensioners and others in receipt of welfare assistance is much sought after, much appreciated and, when explained in a calm, rational fashion, not only appreciated but desired.

What does it do? It gives more than adequate compensation to those household units that are going to be affected. As Senator Wong and others said in response to questions during question time, nine out of 10 households in Australia will receive some form of assistance. Almost every household in Australia is going to receive assistance in terms of the implementation of the carbon price package.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're admitting they're going to get slugged with costs.

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of those households, almost six million—and a lot of them in rural areas with well below average incomes, Senator Nash—will get assistance that meets or exceeds the expected average price impact.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How are you going to do it when we get to an ETS?

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So all those lower house seats that the National Party holds up there in New South Wales and people like you, Senator Nash, who are elected by people in those electorates, low-income electorates almost without exception, will be protected. The economic interests of the people in those electorates are going to be advanced because this government is going to give some of those six million households—some of those that elect you—assistance that meets or exceeds the expected average price impact.

But it gets better than that. Over four million households, almost half of all households across Australia, will get assistance that provides a 20 per cent buffer over and above their expected average price impact. In terms of change and the impact it is going to have, you could not ask for a more beneficial approach by a government, across Australia. It is a package of benefits designed to assist and advance the interests of those most in need.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank goodness Senator Bishop has run out of time, because the reinvention of history that we heard from him was simply extraordinary. May I take this opportunity to remind Senator Bishop that 12 months ago the Labor Party were not out there talking about the 'clean air' policy—and that is in inverted commas, I say for Hansard's benefit. Twelve months ago the Prime Minister was out there promising there would be no tax on carbon under a govern­ment that she leads. Clearly, the plausible excuse is that she is not leading this govern­ment and it is Senator Bob Brown who is actually leading it. But to all intents and purposes the Prime Minister of Australia is meant to be Julia Gillard, and she made a catastrophic deception of the Australian people a key element of her re-election.

Senator Bishop also, through his historical revisionism, went through key economic reforms and was unable to name one single key economic reform that this Labor govern­ment have actually introduced. They have been in power for nearly four years. In those four years we have seen the Australian economy incur enormous levels of debt. We are now starting to see inflation rise. We are starting to see unemployment rise. We are starting to see a rudderless and directionless government imperil the Australian people. That is why the Australian people are up in arms.

Contrary to Senator Bishop's assertions that the Australian people are saying, 'Yes, we want this economic reform, this clean air tax, this carbon dioxide tax that you are trying to impose upon us,' we know that is not the case. That is why thousands of Australians, the regular mums and dads, the mainstream of Australia—not the extremists captured by the kooky Greens, not the extreme left who want to see the dismantling of industrialisation in this country—pick themselves up and come to Canberra to say, 'We're not happy with the deception of Julia Gillard and the Labor Party.' We know that is the case, and whatever Senator Bishop tries to assert to the contrary in this chamber beggars belief. We know that there are convoys of hundreds, if not thousands, of Australians making their way to Canberra as we speak in a convoy of no-confidence in this government.

One thing is very clear: partisan politics in this country has taken a break for a while. It is no longer the Liberal Party versus the Labor Party, it is no longer Liberal supporters versus Labor supporters; it is us as Australians against the government. All Australians feel betrayed by this govern­ment. They feel that this government is not serving the national interest. It has taken a dose of that New South Wales disease and it is all about serving Labor's political interests. It is government clinging to government and power at all or any cost.

We have established very clearly that this policy, this erroneously named and misleading carbon tax, is a tax on an odourless and colourless gas called carbon dioxide, which is an essential element for plant food. We know that. It is not a great moral issue of our time, as that deposed former prime minister professed. It is not a key plank of this government's policy because they ditched it under Senator Wong when she was the Minister for Climate Change and Water in the last government and they promised not to introduce it here.

It is a monumental deception and they are trying to get it through by masquerading it as an environmental measure. I challenge Senator Farrell, who is speaking next, to describe very succinctly exactly what difference this carbon tax is going to make to global temperature or to the environment. They are words that you will never hear uttered. The answer to that—I am not sure Senator Farrell will have the courage to say it—is zero; it is zilch; it is absolutely nothing. It will make no cracker of differ­ence to the temperature or the environment.

The only thing it will affect will be the economy. It will put all Australian industry at a disadvantage. It will put Australian mums, dads, families and pensioners at a disadvantage because the sweetener will come but once. It will come but once and the tax will go on and on and on and it will get bigger and bigger and bigger until a coalition government is elected and this tax is removed. This is the great hoax that this government is putting forward. They say they are going to have a clean air policy, according to Senator Mark Bishop. We have a clean energy revolution going on. It is going to be every bit as fraudulent and every bit as false and every bit as misleading as all their other revolutions. (Time expired)

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

We know all about Senator Bernardi and his approach to clean energy and carbon pricing. We know it because he is a well-known denier and sceptic on this issue. We know the role that he played in the Liberal Party with his mentor, former Senator Minchin who has now left the parliament, in the removal of Malcolm Turnbull, the former leader of the Liberal Party. We know why Senator Bernardi got involved in that. We know that it was the policy of the former leader Malcolm Turnbull—

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Kevin Rudd!

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

No, we are talking about the Liberal Party now, Senator Bernardi. Don't get it confused; we are talking about the Liberal Party. We are talking about the policies of the former leader of the Liberal Party Malcolm Turnbull who was very clear on this issue. He was not a sceptic, like yourself. He was not a denier, like yourself. He understood the importance of clean energy and a clean environment.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about your role with Kevin Rudd?

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

He understood why Australians needed to take some leadership on this issue, and it cost him his leadership because he was prepared to stick his neck out and say, 'We have to do something about this important issue.' When he did, Senator Bernardi had the knives out. And we have Senator Cash over there—I am not entirely sure how she voted in that ballot, but I think I can guess.

Senator Wong interjecting—

Yes, Senator Wong is correct.

Senator McEwen interjecting—

I have not read it that closely. I do not take that much notice of Liberal Party ballots—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why have you been talking about this for 2½ minutes?

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

and who votes for what in the Liberal Party.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about you?

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

I know the outcomes though, Senator Cash, and I know what the outcome was when Malcolm Turnbull, to his great credit, understood why Australia needs a clean carbon future. I have children and I hope one of these days to have grandchildren, and I want to give those children and those grandchildren the oppor­tunity of a clean energy future.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to give them a job!

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

Well, let us talk about jobs. Senator Cash said, 'What economic achievements have we had in the last three years?' I will give you one, Senator Cash. What about when the rest of the world fell into recession? What did the Australian government do under the Labor Party? We kept Australians in jobs and our clean energy future is going to provide lots of young Australians with jobs. I can see Senator McEwen agreeing with me. I know she knows what I know about what is going on in South Australia. Let us look at just one area—geothermal.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It exploded!

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

Mr Deputy President, I seek the protection of the chair here. I sat quietly and listened to that atro­cious diatribe by Senator Bernardi, the man behind the end of Malcolm Turnbull.

Senator Cash interjecting—

And the same with you, Senator Cash. I sat quietly and listened to that shrill diatribe—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Now that is sexist and that is nasty.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Farrell and senators on my left. Senator Farrell, you have the call. I suggest you direct your remarks to the chair, not across the chamber, and you will find you will not need my protection.

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

Thank you for that protection, Mr Deputy President.

Senator Bernardi interjecting—

You may call it exploding but I have great faith in our clean energy policies of the future, particularly in what geothermal is going to do in my home state of South Australia. We have a series of proposals up there, all about applying new technologies, new ideas for the problems of the— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.