Tony Abbott tells Julia Gillard to 'make an honest womanof herself' on carbon tax

TONY Abbott joins the series of critics branding Julia Gillard a liar today, demanding she make an &quot;honest woman&quot; of herself.

By Malcolm Farr, National Political Editor
NewsComAuFebruary 25, 20114:31pm

TONY Abbott has told Julia Gillard to &quot;make an honest woman of herself&quot; by taking her carbon tax to an election for voter approval.

The Opposition Leader joined in a day of bitter, personal and strident attacks on the Prime Minister who yesterday declared she wanted a price on carbon emissions operating by July next year.

Mr Abbott repeated that Ms Gillard had promised before the August election there would not be a carbon tax, but was now proposing one.

"So, I think that the Australian public are entitled to feel absolutely and utterly ripped off by this," he said in Brisbane .

"I think if the Prime Minister wants to make, politically speaking, an honest woman of herself, she needs to seek a mandate for a carbon tax and she should do that at the next election."

Earlier, Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones reprimanded the Prime Minister for being 10 minutes late for a radio interview and then berated her for breaking an election promise.

"There are people now saying your name is not Julia but Ju-lia," he said.

Listen to Alan Jones' interview here.

Interview transcript here.

She was again attacked on her broken promise by Melbourne radio identity Neil Mitchell, who asked "did you lie to us? ... why should you be trusted?"

Listen to Neil Mitchell's interview here.

And the Prime Minister rejected calculations that claimed households would have to pay at least an extra $300 a year for her carbon plan, should it get through Parliament.

That could not be calculated because the Government had not settled on an initial carbon tax, and had not decided what sectors would be taxed, and who would be compensated for price rises.

The Prime Minister said most of the money raised by the tax would go to protecting families from cost rises.

She declined to agree that the electorate had been misled by her statement, made just before polling day, that her government would never put a tax on carbon.

Ms Gillard said: "Does anybody seriously contend at the end of that political debate ... that the Labor party didn't believe in pricing carbon?"

She said there would be a "price impact"but accused Mr Abbott of trying to frighten voters: "Mr Abbott is someone who believes in scare campaigns."

The Prime Minister appeared to enjoy the radio combat, and has deliberately raised the profile of the climate change policy debate.

Her announcement yesterday contained little that was new, but started a political offensive. Ms Gillard wanted it known that she was determined to bring home a system for market pricing of carbon emissions, and would not relent on the issue as she and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had last year.

The Opposition Leader said the proposed carbon tax was ``a total betrayal of the Australian people who were promised up hill and down dale before the election by the Prime Minister that there would be no carbon tax under any government that she leads''.

``Look, this is the mother of all taxes. In the first instance this tax will hit your power bills, it will hit your petrol bills but eventually this tax hits every price in the economy,'' he said.

``You turn on the lights, you pay the tax. You put petrol in your car, you pay the tax. You open your wallet, you pay the tax.

``This really is the mother of all taxes and it should not be introduced without a mandate. That's why it should not be introduced in this term of parliament.''

Originally published as'Make an honest woman of yourself, Julia'

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