Ladies and gentlemen, I want to say congratulations to all of you for coming out today and letting the Government of Australia know that the people of Australia can never be taken for granted. As I look out on this crowd of fine Australians I want to say that I do not see scientific heretics. I do not see environmental vandals. I see people who want honest government.

 

The Prime Minister six days before the election stood up before the Australian people and she said “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,” and she said that, she said that because she knew that was the only way to stave off defeat. Does anyone think for a second that the Prime Minister would be in The Lodge if six days before the election she had said ‘yes, there will be a carbon tax.’

 

Because the struggling families of Australia are doing it tough enough. They’re doing it tough enough with all the increased prices, with all the increased government charges. What they don’t need is an unnecessary new tax that will make a tough life harder.

 

Now, I say to you in all honesty there are a lot of diverse opinions about climate change and I don’t think this is about climate change. Climate change happens, mankind does make a contribution. It’s important to have an intelligent response, not a stupid one, and an intelligent response to climate change means more trees, better soils and smarter technology. It doesn’t mean a great big new tax that just for starters will drive your power bill up by $300 a year. It will put six and a half cents a litre on the cost of filling up your car. It will put $6,240 on the price of a new home and that is just for starters. It won’t just damage your standard of living, it will damage jobs. In fact, this is Australia’s new export under the carbon tax – it’s your jobs.

 

There are 126,000 jobs that will go in regional Australia. There’s 10,000 jobs that will go in the coal industry alone and 16 big mines will close. There’s 24,000 jobs that will go in the mining industry more generally. There’s 45,000 jobs that will go in the energy intensive sector and as the boss of BlueScope Steel has made clear again and again this is a tax from a Government which doesn’t want us to make things anymore in this country.

 

It is economic vandalism. It is life and death for the steel industry, for the aluminium industry, for the cement industry, for the motor industry and if this tax comes in, does anyone think for a second that we will use less steel, that we will turn our air conditioners on less, that we will stop driving our cars? No. It means that the steel and the aluminium and the cement will be imported, and those jobs will be exported and that’s the last thing than any Australian should want and that any Australian Government should promote through unnecessary and wrong headed policy change.

 

Now ladies and gentlemen, you are going to hear a lot of misinformation in the course of this carbon tax fight. One of the pieces of misinformation that you will here is that this is just a tax on big emitters. Wrong. This is a tax on every single Australian. It’s a tax on you. The next thing you will hear is that you will be compensated. Well, let me say this. A tax cut to compensate for a tax hike is not a cut, it’s a con and the Australian public are not mugs. We know what’s really happening. We will not be conned and any government which puts a $2000 a year tax on the average household and then says: please be grateful with $300 or $400 or $1000 back in your pocket, that is not tax reform. That is a tax is a tax mirage.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I was delighted to hear the Prime Minister say the other day that she had learned a lot from scripture lessons. Thou shalt not bear false witness and I say in conclusion, even prime ministers are entitled to change their mind but a prime minister is not entitled to change her mind on something as important as this without going back to the people and seeking a mandate. If the argument is as strong as she says, trust the people to know the truth. Go back and have a vote and we will accept the outcome.

 

Thanks very much indeed. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you everyone for coming. Democracy is at the heart of our country and democracy means giving everyone the chance to be heard with respect. I am so pleased to have had the chance to meet with some of you, to talk to all of you, I wish the Prime Minister was here, I think she might learn something. I wish the union leaders who represent workers in the manufacturing industry of our country were here. They might learn something.

 

I am so pleased and thrilled to have so many of my colleagues here. Thank you so much to my colleagues led by Warren Truss. I so thank and appreciate the support of my colleagues. We’ve got Eric Abetz, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and I also want to say thank you to Chris Smith and 2GB. You know, it’s easy to be critical of our media and I’ve got to say sometimes I am critical of our media but the great thing about a free media in a free democracy is that it gives the ordinary people of our country a voice. Thank you Chris. Thank you Chris for the voice you have given to the people of this country.

 

[ends]