Australian carbon dioxide wars: "You're robbing Peter to pay Peter, robbing Paul to pay Paul, and that in anybody's mind doesn't make sense"

7.30 - ABC

CHRIS UHLMANN: The line the Opposition really wanted to push today was that used money raised from a carbon tax to recast the tax and welfare system is building a money-go-round that won't save the planet.

ERIC ABETZ, LIBERAL SENATOR: You're robbing Peter to pay Peter, robbing Paul to pay Paul, and that in anybody's mind doesn't make sense.

BARNABY JOYCE, NATIONALS SENATOR: The Labor Party are telling you, they're trying to spin you this yarn again that somehow ripping money out of you, marching it round a bureaucracy and then handing you back some of your money is a good thing. Well, it's not.

TONY ABBOTT, OPPOSITION LEADER: A tax cut to compensate for a tax increase is not a cut, it's a con.