QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE – CARBON TAX
May 31, 2012
Mr CHESTER (Gippsland) (15:02): My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to a letter from Angelo Gaudiano, a blue-collar worker at Energy Brix in my electorate who writes:
Once the carbon tax comes into effect … the business will be unviable. It will have to shut. Over 200 workers will lose their jobs and the community will be greatly affected with families leaving the area.
… … …
All I want is a job to go to so I can support my family.
Prime Minister, what is the point of sending people like Angelo Gaudiano a cash cheque when what he really wants is to keep his job?
Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (15:02): To the member who asked the question, jobs will grow under carbon pricing. I refer him to the Treasury modelling. Jobs will grow under carbon pricing. He may have listened to the Leader of the Opposition’s fear campaigning. He may have swallowed the line that whole towns will be wiped off the map, that there will not be coal mined anymore, that everybody will apparently be living in a cave with no electricity, unable to afford food—and the ridiculous stuff just goes on and on and on and on. The member may have swallowed the Leader of the Opposition’s fear campaign, he may have done that, but it does not equal the facts.
To the member who raises this question, I do understand that there is concern in his region about carbon pricing. I genuinely understand that. He would also understand that, as a government, we are working with his region, working through the implications and we are very determined that, unlike the time when the state Liberal government forced his region into a transition with no assistance and no support, we will be there working with the community because we want to see people having the benefit of jobs. If you look at the whole of the carbon pricing package you see jobs continuing to grow and you also see us working with specific industries and with specific regions.
As we leave this parliamentary session we are moving towards a time where the truth about putting a price on carbon will become increasingly clearly, where people will see—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will resume her seat. The member for Gippsland on a point of order.
Mr Chester: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order of direct relevance. Blue-collar workers like Angelo Gaudiano stand to lose their jobs under the contract for closure policy—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Gippsland will resume his seat. The Leader of the House.
Mr Albanese: Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: every single question today has seen points of order from those opposite.
Mr Robb interjecting—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Goldstein. The Leader of the House has the call.
Mr Broadbent interjecting—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for McMillan should understand the standing orders by now. The Leader of the House has the call.
Mr Albanese: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is grossly disorderly, it is an abuse and it is something that you drew the attention of members opposite to just yesterday. If question time is going to proceed in an orderly fashion it should be possible for a question to be asked and answered without—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Leader of the House will resume his seat. The member for Mackellar on the point of order from the Leader of the House.
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I refer you to page 527 of the Practice and point out that the Practice makes continually the point that points of order may be used as a legitimate way of bringing the House back to the question at issue. It says specifically:
… the use of Question Time for its political impact, the opportunity given to Members to raise topical or urgent issues is invaluable. Ministers accept the fact that they must be informed through a check of press, television or other sources of possible questions that may be asked of them in order that they may provide satisfactory answers.
The problem with this government, Madam Deputy Speaker, is there are no satisfactory answers.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Mackellar will resume her seat. As numerous occupiers of this chair have noted from time to time, eliciting the answers and the questions that either side wants is not the role of the chair. The role of the chair is to uphold the standing orders. The Prime Minister has the call.
Ms GILLARD: Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I note that the younger members of the opposition backbench really like that point of order. In answer to member’s question—
Mr Pyne: Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Prime Minister is now making ageist and offensive remarks, not just bullying but ageist remarks and I would ask—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Prime Minister has the call and will be heard.
Mrs Markus: Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: I would like the member to withdraw. That was deeply offensive.
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop: Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: we have been down this route before and I acknowledge that the Prime Minister wins by a nose.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think it is about even-steven and the Prime Minister has the call.
Ms GILLARD: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. To the member who asked this question: it was clear from his point of order that in fact he is making some assumptions about what may or may not flow from a tender process that is underway. I would say to the member that he cannot make assumptions about what might flow from that tender process. But what he can safely assume, what he can always assume, is that this government will support jobs, this government will work with his region to support jobs, this government will work to keep growing the economy so that there are more jobs and, at the same time, we will be there providing households with assistance, because we understand that they are under cost-of-living pressure.
We will leave to the opposition the fear campaigning, all of the game playing, the running around, the stunts—all the other kinds of trite and silly performances that we have seen in parliament over the last week—and we will get on with the job of running the economy in the interests of working people, something that the Leader of the Opposition and his team will never understand.