Wilkie to support a price on carbon

The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, will support the Federal Government’s legislation to put a price on carbon.

Mr Wilkie’s decision follows his meeting yesterday with the Prime Minister and this morning with the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

“I have said all along that my support for carbon price legislation will depend on the settings in the scheme and in the legislation being right,’’ Mr Wilkie said.

“I’ve now had the opportunity to raise my concerns about carbon pricing with the Prime Minister and with Mr Combet and have a broad discussion about those issues.

“I wanted to be confident that low income families will be looked after, and on my understanding of the scheme I am satisfied they will be.

“I also wanted to confirm that the package will look after energy intensive businesses, such as the Nyrstar zinc works in my electorate, and I’m assured they’ll get adequate assistance.

“I wanted to ensure Tasmania’s potential to be an important source of carbon offsets isn’t adversely impacted by anything in the proposal, and I’m reassured this is the case.

“I wanted to see real investment in renewable energy as part of the package, and I understand that’s included.

“And I wanted to make sure the scheme will work for Tasmania, given our reliance on hydro electricity, and based on everything I’ve heard I’m confident that it will.

“I will be looking through all the detailed material on Sunday but I’m confident, from my discussions that the issues I had concerns about have all been looked after properly and appropriately.

“We have to clean up our environment and prepare for the future global economy. As the father of two young children I’m proud to help make their world a cleaner and more prosperous place.’’