John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security) Share this | Hansard source

With the carbon tax that Labor are so proud of and that the Minister for Trade cannot wait to impose, Australian farmers are more exposed than almost any other industry. Whether or not they wear it themselves, they will wear its effects like no others. Electricity, fuel, fertiliser and transport, it does not matter where you go; we all know, with a carbon tax of $45 a tonne, just how expensive it will be—well, we will if the government ever work it out. Let us look at the example of the impact of the carbon tax on milk prices. We all know that, irrespective of whether or not agriculture is included, all those things will become much dearer for dairy farmers. It remains to be seen, with the minister for agriculture backing Coles and Wesfarmers over dairy farmers, if milk will be included or not—if there is even anyone left to produce it. When dairy farmers need to buy in feed, new breeding stock or new machinery, they will be slugged by the prices as badly as anyone in the economy. With the recent milk price war, we can all see—everybody, with the exception of Australia’s own agriculture minister and his predecessor, Minister Burke, who have virtually stated that Coles were in the right—the impact that this is going to have. The Australian dairy industry estimates that this will cost an extra $7,500 per year, but that was with the carbon price at $26 per tonne. At $45—

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