Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline for the House what is so vital that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme be voted on this year and implemented in the most fiscally responsible way?

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

I thank the member for Bendigo for his question because climate change is one of the most significant economic challenges that the nation faces and the introduction of the CPRS is one of the most significant structural changes that we have seen in this country since the reforms of the Hawke and Keating governments in the early 1980s and 1990s. That means that we need informed debate and informed discussion and it also means we need timely action, because this has been talked about for a long time. The government has been working on its proposals for a CPRS since the very beginning of this government.

Early passage of the CPRS is necessary and it is most particularly necessary to give business the investment certainty that it craves and needs to support jobs in our economy in the years ahead. This is the view of the business community. I quote from the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, which had this to say a month or so ago;

The passage of legislation … will provide a clear signal and measure of certainty around which long-term institutional investors like super funds can begin to base investment planning and decisions.

This view is shared widely across the business community and that is why we do welcome the engagement from the opposition, at last, this week. We are very serious about considering these proposals. In responding to their proposals we will be guided by the national interest, which means that any of the amendments they put forward must be economically responsible and they must, of course, also be environmentally credible. Economic responsibility is crucial. It is crucial because as we move through this transition in Australian industry and jobs we have to be acutely aware of the need for medium-term fiscal sustainability. The 2009-10 budget presented projections of the underlying cash balance and net debt position out to 2019-20. Estimates are there of revenue and spending under the CPRS. They were all accounted for in those projections. This means that any additional spending which will increase projected deficits and increase net debt will have to be met by offsets or savings elsewhere.

I think the opposition have confirmed overnight that they have calculated the economic costs and the emissions effect of the amendments. We look forward to seeing all of that detail from the shadow minister as part of the negotiations. We do want a sensible discussion about costs and benefits and we do want that within a sensible time frame, because we need to have this voted on this year. The House will have plenty of time and the Senate will have plenty of time, because the passage of the CPRS by the end of the year must provide the investment certainty that business has been looking for for such a long period of time. We need those investments now. We need them to support the green jobs of the future and we need to process, deliberate and act on this important issue this year.