Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Certainly, Deputy Speaker. Hospitals do not pay the carbon price. Yes, there is an impact on electricity costs—there is no doubt about that—but there is no direct imposition of the carbon price on hospitals. And as the Treasury modelling estimates—

Opposition members interjecting—

I guess they prove my point all of the time with this outrageous exaggeration. The Australian public has recognised it for what it is, which is outrageous exaggeration. But they are still in here trying to run the fear campaign when it has run into a brick wall. That is why the Leader of the Opposition is not going to come in here and ask these sorts of incorrect questions; the campaign that he has been running has simply run out of steam. That says a lot about those opposite—that they do not have any alternative policy framework for this country other than to put their stamp of approval on savage cuts to health and education in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. This is one of the reasons why there is radio silence now from the Leader of the Opposition. He is not out there talking about these things because he is not fair dinkum.

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