All bets are off, says PM
Phillip Coorey and Peter Hartcher
September 18, 2010
KEY government promises made before the election no longer necessarily apply because of the ''new environment'' created by the hung parliament, Julia Gillard says.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald, Ms Gillard said: ''It's not business as usual for measures that require substantial legislation.''
The logic, she said, applied to ''big picture reforms - and anything associated with climate change is obviously one where we're in this new environment''.
On Thursday Ms Gillard left open the prospect of a carbon tax as a way of tackling climate change, an option she ruled out before the election.
But with climate change policy to be shaped by a new cross-party committee comprising politicians and outside experts, all of whom believe in putting a price on carbon, Ms Gillard said that what she said before the election no longer applied.
''We laboured long and hard to develop a market-based mechanism,'' she said of the government's emissions trading scheme. ''But I'm recognising the political reality. I campaigned as Prime Minister in an election campaign with policies for the government.
''We are in a new environment where in order for any action to happen in this Parliament, you need more consensus than the views and policies of the government and this committee is the way of recognising that.''
The government would still have significant input into the policy and economic considerations would be taken into account, but Ms Gillard said the timing and shape of the policy were subject to the new process.
This week, the chief executive of BHP, Marius Kloppers, reignited the debate by saying a price on carbon was inevitable and a solution was needed to give business certainty.
He was backed by some industry groups and Ms Gillard argued that this sudden embrace by big business had added to the ''new environment''.
''What we are presented with now is a new opportunity to work through the question of how we price carbon in an environment which is not one I expected when I was campaigning during the election - not one anyone really expected,'' she said.
The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has barred any of his MPs from participating in the climate change committee but Ms Gillard said any rebels were welcome to join.
Cracks are appearing in the Coalition over climate change. Malcolm Turnbull, who returned to the frontbench this week, restated his support for a price on carbon and angered colleagues by promoting Mr Kloppers's speech on Twitter and Facebook.
Yesterday Mr Abbott said the Coalition's opposition to a price on carbon was unchanged.
Yesterday the government also announced that a new detention centre would be built on Cape York and the Curtin detention centre would be expanded - a move it had ruled out before the election.
''It just goes to show that you can't trust these guys,'' Mr Abbott said. ''It's just not right for governments to say one thing before an election and do something quite different afterwards.''
Ms Gillard said the electorate was tired of Mr Abbott's negativity. ''His whole leadership and his whole election campaign was based on protest and complaint and he's made it very clear that in this new environment the only role he sees for himself is the role of wrecker,'' she said.
''That is a profound misjudgment by him. I think it's misjudging the mood of the nation and the opportunities this Parliament presents to all parliamentarians for making change.''
At a speech in Bathurst today to commemorate Ben Chifley, Ms Gillard will liken the national broadband network, which Mr Abbott opposes, to Chifley's Snowy Mountains hydro scheme.
She sidestepped questions about whether the support from BHP and others would have helped early this year when the government was abandoned on climate change, forcing it to shelve its emissions trading scheme.
http://www.watoday.com.au/national/all-bets-are-off-says-pm-20100917-15gbl.htmlI wondered how long it would take
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