A senior Rudd Government minister has today confirmed the carbon tax is here to stay under Labor, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today.
Contrary to suggestions that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his new Minister for Climate Change, Mark Butler, are considering abandoning their carbon tax, Labor’s third most senior minister has signalled the carbon tax won’t be going anywhere.
DAVID BEVAN: “Have you ever, in the last three years, thought to yourself ‘I will not compromise on this particular policy; I’d rather be in opposition, quite frankly’?”
PENNY WONG: “I think implementing carbon pricing … You might disagree with the policy but, you know, it’s not a popular policy but it should be done.”
891 ABC Adelaide, 4 July 2013
“Labor promised before the last election that there would be no carbon tax,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“They broke that promise and there is a carbon tax and it went up again this week, meaning even higher electricity and gas prices and less competitiveness for Australian business.
“Labor may yet try to tweak the carbon tax for a year or two or change its name, but Senator Wong has made perfectly clear that under Labor the carbon tax will be here to stay.
“The choice in this election is very clear. It’s between having a carbon tax and not having a carbon tax.
“The Coalition is the only party going into this election offering the Australian people the choice of not having a carbon tax and for Kevin Rudd or Mark Butler to pretend otherwise is just a giant con job.”