MARIUS BENSON: Mark Butler, do you accept the carbon tax will be repealed this week?
SHADOW MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER MARK BUTLER: Well,
it’s the clear the Government will try to get rid of it again this
week, but if they do Australia will again lose any chance of a
meaningful policy on climate change if the Government refuses to back
Labor’s policy of terminating the carbon tax but replacing it with
something meaningful, namely an Emissions Trading Scheme.
BENSON: What do
you think of the proposals that Clive Palmer put up when he was
standing next to Al Gore a couple of weeks ago about an Emissions
Trading Scheme being retained in some mild form with a nil price. Do you
think that and other measures retaining an architecture for dealing
with emissions or this that just the smoldering ruins of a past policy?
BUTLER: Well
we’ll have a look at the amendments when Clive Palmer releases them and
obviously we’re interested to look at them. And what it does show is
that, with Clive Palmer now supporting an Emissions Trading Scheme in
principle as the right response, that Tony Abbott really is the only
player in this debate who rejects an ETS as the right response for
Australia.
BENSON: But is he in touch with the Australian public there? The Australian
has a Newspoll this morning showing 53 per cent in favour of abolishing
the carbon tax, only 35 per cent for the Senate working to retain it.
BUTLER: Well
Labor went to the election with a policy of terminating the carbon tax,
we’ve restated that time and time again, Bill Shorten restated it again
yesterday, but we’re not going to throw the baby out with the bath water
-
BENSON: But the Abbott policy does, in your term throw out the baby and the bathwater, in terms of no pricing mechanism on carbon.
BUTLER: Well,
no pricing mechanism, no cap, no discipline on the amount of carbon
pollution Australia produces and that is the critical problem with Tony
Abbott’s response to this area – there’s no discipline whatsoever on
carbon pollution for Australia. That’s why we won’t support it.
BENSON: Can’t the Prime Minister point to public support for his position and not yours?
BUTLER: Well he
can point to public support for abolishing the carbon tax but that’s
Labor’s position as well. The question is, the debate over the last
several months is, what replaces the carbon tax and we won’t support
throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There must be a meaningful
response to climate change and that is an Emissions Trading Scheme.
BENSON: Can I
ask you to take a moment to look at recent history. Is this an issue
that Labor and the Greens have mishandled for years? You could have had a
deal with Malcom Turnbull when he was Opposition Leader ready to
support carbon pricing, 2010 Julia Gillard led the drive to force Kevin
Rudd to abandon the carbon scheme that he said was the moral challenge
of a generation and then you got rid of Kevin Rudd. Have you got it
wrong at every crucial moment, you, Labor?
BUTLER: Well
there are plenty of commentators who’ll take the time to sit down to
look over history. We’re focused on today and tomorrow and that is
arguing the case for the right policy for Australia. We’re absolutely
convinced that’s terminating the carbon tax and putting in place an
Emissions Trading Scheme, the sort of scheme we’re seeing developed all
over the world including in our own region in places like China and
South Korea, our third largest export partner. That’s our focus.
BENSON: But the result today realistically is that there will be nothing there in the terms you want?
BUTLER: Well
Tony Abbott seems hell bent on making sure that instead of Australia
being in a position to work constructively with the United States and
China, he wants Australia to be one out, to be the only nation in the
world to have entirely dismantled its climate change policy.
BENSON: Do you
hold out any hopes of the crossbench doing something to prevent the
changes that you don’t want to see go ahead? Do you have any plans for
talks with Palmer United and others?
BUTLER: We’ve
been talking to them and making our case very clearly. We’re the one
party in this debate that has been absolutely steadfast during the
election campaign and since in arguing for an Emissions Trading Scheme.
Everyone knows Labor’s position, we’ll be arguing it again this week,
and we’d love their support. They know our case and they’ll make up
their own mind.
BENSON: Do you
think everyone does know Labor’s position? Because the Government often
points to you and says, ‘Labor doesn’t know where it is, it flip flops
all over the place.’
BUTLER: Well,
given the behaviour of the Government last week, that’s pretty rich
frankly, given their complete incapacity to manage their own affairs in
the Parliament. Our position has been crystal clear and steadfast,
during the election campaign and since. We support the termination of
the carbon tax but it must be replaced with a meaningful policy in this
really critical area.
BENSON: Mark Butler, thank you very much.
BUTLER: Thank you Marius.
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