A Liberal Party candidate has confessed he is "not across" his party's Direct Action policy on climate change, despite it being promoted by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as an alternative to the carbon tax.
Liberal candidate for Wakefield Tom Zorich was questioned by Sky News political contributor Peter van Onselen in a debate last night to explain the policy.
"I'm not across all those issues Pete, I'm sorry," Mr Zorich said, as he was met with jeers from the audience.
"I will say to you as a candidate and a businessman I'm not across everything."
Coalition Leader Tony Abbott has declared the September 7 election a referendum on the carbon tax, insisting that a Labor government will keep the controversial policy despite Kevin Rudd's pledge that it would be terminated. Mr Abbott has vowed to scrap the carbon tax and introduce Direct Action, supported by other practical measures, to reduce CO2 emissions by 5 per cent by 2020.
The Liberal Party is hoping to reclaim the seat of Wakefield from Labor MP Nick Champion, who holds the electorate on a 12 per cent margin.
"Climate change is one of the most fundamentally important issues we face, and your policy is to rail against the carbon price, the market mechanism for dealing with this problem, and you don't know ... your own policy on it," Mr Champion told Mr Zorich.
"Doesn't that say something about the state of the Liberal Party? You've run so far from John Howard, who believed in a market mechanism; he believed in the ETS."
"Is that good enough?" Mr Van Onselen asked Mr Zorich.
"You're looking to be a member of the federal team, it's a cornerstone policy of Tony Abbott. Not just to scrap the carbon tax ... but to have an alternative ... which is a multi-billion dollar policy. Shouldn't you be across it?"
"I'm here to offer myself," said Mr Zorich.
"As a person who represents this area and this electorate. I'm in a different sphere to where Nick Champion is."
