HOST: Good morning to you. Welcome back.
PM: Good morning Mel. Thank you.
HOST: You've said this tax is simple, but there's so much confusion our Soap Box has said people still don't understand it. Is that your fault?
PM: I think when there is a significant change like this we have to keep explaining it. There is information for people to absorb but today is a significant day, it's a significant day for Australians today and the Australians of the future who want to see a better environment and for the thousands of people who work in clean-energy jobs. And at its heart it's simple, getting big polluters to pay and using the money to help out families and pensioners and to protect Australian jobs.
HOST: There is no doubt it is massive economic reform also, we've got polls showing 80% of viewers slash voters don't want it. We're in a middle of a massive economic GFC, is the timing right?
PM: This isn't about the polls, Mel, this is about the country's best interests and it's in our best interests to seize a clean energy future and with that clean energy future we're going to see jobs grow by 1.6 million by 2020; average incomes rise by $9,000 and people get money in their pockets as we use the money big polluters are paying to help out families and pensioners. Now we're in a nation whose economy is strong and we know if we delay even to 2015, that that will cost us more. Experts have told us it will cost $5 billion more. So delay is costly, now is the time to act and this Parliament, this House of Representatives is going to act today.
HOST: We hear that. We know that you say that, but everyone's balking. If I could show you our e-mails on the Soap Box and people are saying, “we don't understand it, we're confused it's a tax, we don't want it." How do you deal with that perception, that anger?
PM: It's a tax on the biggest polluters in this country, so for all of your viewers watching today what they can expect to see is pensions increasing by $338. Pensioner households, 1.8 million of them will come out $210 in front. Lots of people watching this more are getting ready for work, they earn less than $80,000 they'll see a tax cut, most of them, of $300 and we're going to triple the tax-free threshold, that means a million people will come out of the tax system; they won't be paying tax, they won't need to put in a tax return.
So these are big reforms, if people want all of the information it's there on our Clean Energy Future website, but my simple point to Australians would be overwhelmingly, people believe climate change is real, through doing this we'll take the equivalent of 45 million cars off the road.
HOST: Ok, Sophie Mirabella, kicked out last night, will that change things today and is it right, there's speculation you may bring forward the Migration Act debate and do that today as well?
PM: Well Sophie Mirabella was taken out of the House by the person acting as the speaker for poor behaviour, so you shouldn't behave like that and if you do then you pay the price, and that's a 24 hour suspension. For putting a price on carbon, getting a clean energy future, there is a majority for it in this Parliament whether Sophie Mirabella is there or not and that's our focus today.
HOST: Ok so you're not going to bring anything forward, you're not going to try and do any of the Migration-
PM: Look the important thing today Mel is the clean energy future and putting a price on carbon and all of that is completely unchanged-
HOST: So that's a no?
PM: Today the focus is on the climate change package, so that's what we're going to be debating, that's what we're going to be voting on-
HOST: If you get time you going to bring anything else in?
PM: The migration legislation is likely to be debated tomorrow rather than today. The focus today is on seizing this clean energy future. It's a reform the nation has been talking about for more than ten years. This is a significant day for Australians who want a cleaner environment.
HOST: OK. It is going to be a big day. We know you have got a lot to do so I'll let you go. Thank you very much for joining us this morning and we'll see how the day pans out.
PM: Thanks Mel, thanks very much.
HOST: Thank you very much, Prime Minister.