Mr COMBET (Charlton—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) (14:36): I thank the member for Greenway for her question. Last year, acting on the scientific advice, countries around the world, including all the major emitters and including Australia—committed to take on legal obligations from 2020 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—and of course that is further to the pledges they have made to reduce emissions up to 2020. As part of this mendacious and deceitful campaign that the coalition and the Leader of the Opposition have run, the Leader of the Opposition has been claiming that Australia is somehow acting alone: that we are on our own; the rest of the world is doing nothing; nothing is going on; there are no agreements to cut emissions. In fact, last year the Leader of the Opposition had this to say: 'There is no sign, no sign whatsoever, that the rest of the world is going to do things like introduce carbon taxes or emissions trading schemes.' At the time that statement was made, New Zealand had an emissions trading scheme and more than 20 countries had had emissions trading for six years. The Kyoto Protocol had been place for quite some period of time. But in that context the Leader of the Opposition's take on international affairs is that the US is not a foreign country. It has all the credibility and quality of his foreign policy observations. In this context I was very surprised to read this morning that the member for Flinders, the shadow minister, has in fact committed the coalition to sign up to the international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These are the same agreements that the opposition leader says do not exist—that no-one is committed to. No-one is doing anything! But the fact of the matter is that, try as he might to deny it, many countries are taking action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. All 27 European Union member countries, including the UK under the conservative government, are cutting emissions. China, Korea, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and South Africa, are all introducing moves to carbon pricing arrangements to cut their emissions. Those countries know it is the most efficient way to go about all of this. The coalition knows it, and that is why their campaign is a massive fraud—a complete litany of lies; a completely mendacious campaign. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister will withdraw. Mr COMBET: I withdraw, Deputy Speaker. Make no mistake about this: the carbon price has come in and people are starting to realise what a fraudulent campaign this is. And they also know that the greatest fraudulent claim of all is that the coalition will repeal it, because everyone knows that the coalition will not and cannot repeal—(Time expired) Ms ROWLAND: I rise to ask a supplementary question. The minister's answer— Honourable members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Greenway will commence her question again. She should not have to yell to be heard. Ms ROWLAND: The minister's answer outlined why facts are important in our efforts to tackle dangerous climate change. Can he give more examples of why this is important. Mr COMBET: Factual information is very important. Take, for example, the assertion made by the member for Boothby yesterday in relation to the Belair Hotel. It is fascinating that on having a look at the bill the carbon price is, in fact, less than 10 per cent of the cost of the bill—exactly what the government indicated it would be. It is exactly consistent with the Treasury modelling. Misrepresentation, deceit, mendacious claims. The coalition is very fond of anniversaries— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Boothby, do you have a point of order? Dr Southcott: I do not rise on a point of order. The minister has just used the words 'mendacious', 'deceit' and— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat. If I asked everybody to draw everything we would be here all day. I am putting a line in the sand on one word. Mr COMBET: The coalition are very fond of anniversaries; that has been raised today. It is three years since the Leader of the Opposition said he supported a carbon tax. That is what it is: it is the third year anniversary of the Leader of the Opposition saying on television that he supported a carbon tax. It is five years since the Howard government indicated that the coalition would introduce a world-leading emissions trading scheme. What hypocrisy! Twelve months ago the Leader of the Opposition said that upon introduction of the carbon price, food prices would go up five per cent. What did we indicate yesterday? TD Securities found a 0.2 per cent increase in consumer prices during July and in that survey they found that food prices were unaffected by the introduction of the carbon price. That is TD Securities and the Melbourne Institute— (Time expired)