Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline for the House the reasons why passing the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme this week is critical for the future of the Australian economy?

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

I thank the member for Oxley for his question. Could I also congratulate him on the joint parliamentary committee report that came down last night, which really goes to the core of future economic reform particularly in financial services. The government will look at all of those recommendations and take them very seriously, because, as a government, we take long-term reform very seriously. Long-term reform is never easy. Opening up our financial system in the eighties was never easy. Introducing compulsory superannuation was never easy. Tearing down the tariff wall was never easy. But all of these long-term reforms that were put in place by far-sighted governments of the past are one of the reasons why we are such a prosperous nation today and among some of the reasons why we have done so well during this global recession, because far-sighted governments and political parties committed to long-term reform took the hard decisions at the right time. They did not delay. They did not take the easy course of action.

Of course, nothing is harder—and this is the case—than introducing a carbon pollution reduction scheme, but it is an essential reform for our future prosperity and an essential reform if we want to leave a legacy of prosperity to our children not just in terms of our economy but in terms of our environmental sustainability. This is a challenge that we cannot afford to shirk as a nation, and the government has been working very hard in this area over a long period of time. We made a commitment to the people at the last election. We have brought down a green paper; we have brought down a white paper; we have brought down legislation. We are very serious about long-term reform because we are serious about what we hand to subsequent generations with regard to a prosperous economy and a sustainable environment. That is what is at stake in the debate about the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

In essence, it is about jobs and it is about protecting our economy from the consequences of dangerous climate change. The government has come to this after it has done an enormous amount of work. We have had an enormous amount of work done by the Treasury: comprehensive modelling that the world looks at as being one of the most important responses that has been put in place by any nation around the globe. What does it tell us, because this is what should inform us about how we act if we are going to act in the long-term national interest? This is what the modelling shows us. It shows we can have continued economic growth while we reduce carbon pollution. It is a path that delivers continued increases in employment, with 1.7 million new jobs to 2020, while we reduce carbon pollution. It is a path that delivers continued increases in average income. Expect it to grow by $4,300 per person to 2020 while we reduce carbon pollution.

But critically, and this goes very much to the here and now, what we must deliver is certainty to business so that it can invest in new green technologies and new industries. This is the way forward. This is the path to the future, which is why the government has come to the table with good faith and negotiated with some opposite to put in place a scheme which is sustainable, economically responsible and environmentally credible. That is what we have done. The bottom line is that as an economy, let alone a society, we cannot continue to put this problem in the too-hard basket. It has been there for far too long. Too many people over a long period of time have taken the short-sighted approach. Perhaps it is the politically popular approach, but it is the short-sighted approach. Hard reform is never easy, and we have to take it on. If we have inaction for longer, it will get harder and harder. The longer we delay the more it costs the nation, the greater the burden we deliver to our children and our grandchildren, and the greater the cost to the economy. That is what all of the modelling shows.

It is what common sense shows as well. It is what common sense tells you: the longer you delay taking action, a fundamental action, the greater the cost that comes to you and the community in which you live. So for that reason we have moved forward in a practical way. We know that the cost of not acting now is far higher in the long term. And if we do not act now, we are sentencing the Australian economy to a very sharp and dangerous shock at some stage in the future. That is the problem, and that is why we need to act. That is why we have spent two years working on a carbon pollution reduction scheme.

It is about time this parliament acted. It is about time everyone here put the national interest ahead of their self-interest. It is our turn to put the Australian economy on the right path by passing the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.