Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Finance and Deregulation) (14:29): It is always good to get a question from Senator Birmingham, who used to want to support a price on carbon and now, in his desire to move one seat forward, is very happily participating— Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr President, I rise on a point of order on relevancy. This minister again is spending the first half of her answer attacking the questioner. Can you please bring her to order and ask her to answer the question? The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order. I was drawing the minister's attention to the question. Senator WONG: Thank you, Mr President. I am interested that Senator Macdonald is always so sensitive on Senator Birmingham's behalf. He obviously feels a need to protect him. I have no doubt that Senator Birmingham, being an assiduous reader of Treasury documents, would have read the Treasury modelling which was released. The assumptions on a whole range of issues, including the extent of international action, are described in the document itself. The core policy scenario assumes that nations— Senator Ronaldson: Who says it is a silver bullet? I got your attention. The PRESIDENT: Order! Resume your seat, Senator Wong. When there is silence we will proceed. I remind honourable senators on both sides— Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senators Sterle and Macdonald, if you wish to debate it the time is after question time. You know that. Senator WONG: As I was saying, the core policy scenario in the Treasury modelling assumes that countries meet the low-end commitments for 2020 that they made at the Copenhagen and the Cancun conferences. This is the equivalent of assuming Australia will meet its bipartisan five per cent target by 2020. I remind those opposite that it is like assuming this nation will meet the target that both parties have committed to, although I note at this point that the opposition's policy to meet the five per cent will, in fact, cost more. It will cost $1,300 per year per Australian household. It is a policy which will increase expenses for Australian taxpayers. The approach taken by Treasury is the same approach taken in comparable modelling exercises by organisations such as the OECD, and the commitments on which this is predicated are the clearest evidence that we have of what other countries intend to do to tackle climate change. (Time expired)