Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Finance and Deregulation) (14:05): A carbon price has been in place for some time, as the opposition would know, in Europe. The opposition would also know they went to an election previously promising to put in place a price on carbon, a commitment that was reneged upon by Mr Abbott, Senator Abetz and many others as a result of the leadership change in the Liberal Party. The facts are these: climate change is with us, climate change will worsen, the world will increasingly— Senator Abetz: Mr President, a point of order on relevance: sessional orders require that the minister be directly relevant to the question asked. The question related to whether the minister could name any other nation that had introduced a carbon tax after its Prime Minister and every one of the governing party's members had gone to an election promising not to do so. Nothing in the minister's answer relates to the question which was asked. Senator Ludwig: Mr President, Senator Abetz tries to make the point that the minister is not answering the question. In fact, the minister is answering the question and is being directly relevant. That the minister is not answering the question in the way the opposition wants her to answer the question is not a point of order. The minister is being directly relevant to the question being asked. The PRESIDENT: The minister has 31 seconds remaining to answer the question. There is no point of order at this stage. Senator WONG: I was asked about international action. I would make the point that Australia's top five trading partners—China, Japan, the US, Korea and India—are implementing or piloting emissions trading schemes, carbon taxes and coal taxes at various governmental levels. China has indicated it will introduce pilot emissions trading schemes in a number of provinces, including the industrial centres of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. The reality is the world is moving and we need to keep up.