Senator RONALDSON (Victoria) (15:02): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Ronaldson today relating to the carbon tax. I refer to Senator Wong's comments regarding the Alcoa bailout at Point Henry aluminium smelter. I particularly want to take note of the fact that the minister, despite repeated requests, refused to acknowledge that the carbon tax impact on that Point Henry smelter was going to be $40-odd million. She then refused to acknowledge that the amount of the carbon tax just remarkably happened to be the equivalent of the bailout amount. This further establishes that this bailout was using borrowed money to cover up a bad tax that is based on a lie. The fact that the minister would not acknowledge the remarkable coincidence about the bailout figure and the carbon tax figure just shows again that the Labor Party stands utterly condemned in relation to this lie that was delivered five days before the last election. The Labor Party can talk as much as they like about the world not changing on 1 July but the Australian people know full well that a carbon tax that has no equivalent in the world is going to dramatically damage this country and damage this economy. As I asked the minister during my question, what is she going to do for those businesses and industries throughout Australia which are now facing complete and utter destruction, in relation to a bailout for them? Was it because Geelong happens to be a marginal seat that drove this? Senator Farrell: What's wrong with that? Senator RONALDSON: I will take the interjection from Senator Farrell. Senator Farrell, I am absolutely staggered that you interjected that. It is now on the public record and I will be reminding you constantly about this. What is wrong with this toxic carbon tax which you voted for, which you supported before the last election, is that the bailout for Alcoa will not be provided to industries in your home state. There will be no compensation for them, no bailout for them, no compensation for small business in Adelaide or throughout South Australia. And you are saying to the chamber and saying to the Australian people, 'It's fine to put money into a marginal seat. What's wrong with that?' What is wrong with that is that if there were not a carbon tax we would not be required to try to pick winners in the Australian economy. If your Prime Minister had not gone to the last election with a lie— Senator Farrell: Your Prime Minister too. Senator RONALDSON: You are absolutely right. I suspect she probably will not be your Prime Minister in about five months time. Your Prime Minister went to the last election and lied to the people of Geelong and told them a lie: 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' I can tell you, Mr Deputy President, that in a poll conducted in the Adelaide Advertiser in February of this year some 53 per cent said they did not support a carbon tax. Well over half the people polled of an 800-person poll said they do not support the carbon tax. And we know from published polls elsewhere that there has been further slippage in those who support a carbon tax and a significant increase in those who are opposed to it. No amount of talk from the Australian Labor Party, no amount of spin from the Australian Labor Party, will change that. It includes the latest line, parroted again by the government leader in this chamber, that we will not revoke this carbon tax, that we will not introduce legislation to rid this country of the carbon tax. Every single person on this side of the chamber, as well as the Leader of the Opposition and those in the other place, is absolutely committed to the abolition of a tax that we know will destroy this country. The government leader in the Senate is asking for a bet in relation to whether we will do it. I have got some news for the government leader: do not waste your money, my friend. (Time expired)