Senate debates
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Bills
Clean Energy Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Customs) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Excise) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Household Assistance Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Auctions) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Fixed Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge — General) Bill 2011, Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011, Climate Change Authority Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011; In Committee
4:52 pm
Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source
That was not Senator Birmingham's greatest contribution, I have to say. I think he went through a list of Labor senators and gave a long political diatribe about that. I think he asked me about the finances of the NBN. I declined, Mr Temporary Chairman, to raise the issue of relevance, though I am not sure what that had to do with any of the bills before us. He did raise two issues which I should respond to, the first in relation to carbon leakage, and I would make two points on that.
The first is that there is a very significant amount of assistance to industry to recognise the needs of industry through this transition, with a focus on supporting jobs, which includes a $9.2 billion Jobs and Competitiveness Program, a $1.2 billion Clean Technology Program, a $1.3 billion coal sector jobs package and a $300 million Steel Transformation Plan, the last of which I understand the senator will be voting against, notwithstanding his avowed concern for jobs.
The second point I would make on that issue is to quote the senator himself in his speech in November 2009 when he quoted Prime Minister Cameron—whom he then agreed with and now disagrees with—a Conservative Prime Minister who does believe that action on climate change is important and who believes in the role of carbon pricing.
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