Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Deregulation, Competition Policy and Sustainable Cities) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation and Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs. I refer the minister to the New South Wales Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal report, which found that electricity prices will rise by 60 per cent in New South Wales, with one-third of this massive price hike due to the government’s emissions trading scheme. How will this help a small business proprietor such as Jason of Bell’s Foxy’s Dry Cleaners, who I and the opposition leader visited this morning, who already pays $15,000 a year in electricity costs for his business? He is facing a $3,000 or more increase because of the government’s great big new tax on everything—a tax, a system, that provides no compensation for small business.

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