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Monday, 19 March 2012
Page: 3256

Carbon Pricing

Ms GAMBARO (Brisbane) (14:37): My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the plight of the Wilston Grange Gorillas football club in my electorate, whose current electricity bill to light their playing fields is a staggering $360 per hour. Because of the world's biggest carbon tax, how much more will the supporters of the Wilston Grange Gorillas have to pay in fees and levies for players to continue to play footy at night?

Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:37): To the member who asked the question I would say this: she would recall contesting the 2007 election arguing for a price on carbon. I hope she has provided an explanation to this sporting club, and to her whole electorate, as to why she no longer stands for John Howard's plan of putting a price on carbon. While the Liberal Party are at it, they might want to explain why they no longer stand for Liberal values like cutting company tax—

The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will return to the question asked by the member for Brisbane.

Ms GILLARD: burdens on Australian businesses. The member who asked the question, when she is speaking to the people at that sporting club, may well, too, want to explain the costly burden she and the Leader of the Opposition have planned for the families that use those sporting facilities—a bill of $1,300 per family—as a result of the opposition's inefficient, wasteful and not credible carbon plan. She might want to explain that.

If she wants to tell the members of this sporting club the truth, then what she will tell them is that as a nation we do need to reduce carbon pollution, that as a nation we should do that in the cheapest possible way, that as a nation that means putting a price on carbon—

Mr Abbott: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. It was a very straightforward question about Gorillas in the dark because of the carbon tax on the people of Queensland and the Prime Minister should be directly relevant to it.

The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will return to the specifics of the question asked by the honourable member for Brisbane.

Ms GILLARD: I was asked about the circumstances of a sporting club and I was directly addressing those circumstances. The member for Brisbane may want to explain to the members of the sporting club the need for us to reduce carbon pollution, to do it in the cheapest way, to do it in a way that benefits working people through tax cuts and increases to family payments and that benefits pensioners as well. She may want to explain that that is the reality of the government's plan, whereas what the Leader of the Opposition has planned is a big bill for every family at that sporting club of $1,300 per family.