Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I oppose this motion and I will state my reasons for doing so. Bob Harrison is the former state member for Kiama, who served in the New South Wales parliament for over 13 years and is a life member of the Australian Labor Party. He was also former Mayor of the City of Shellharbour, and I have a lot of time for Bob. He is a respected parliamentarian and remains a respected member of the community. Bob is extremely credible and when he has got something to say people stop and listen.

Earlier this month, Bob contributed an article in the Illawarra Mercury, whose banner read, ‘Carbon tax will burn Illawarra.’ He was scathing in his criticism of the Prime Minister’s strong advocacy and her deal with the Greens. He wrote:

It was sickening to listen to boasting by Greens Senator Christine Milne that the Greens’ “power sharing deal” with the Federal Government has delivered a carbon tax. I don’t remember voting for any power sharing deal with the Greens.

Bob’s theme was that this carbon tax will have a significant and adverse effect on the employment prospects for the greater Illawarra region.

As a representative of an electorate, part of which relies on the steel industry in Port Kembla, I totally agree with Bob’s sentiments and observations. The tax has all the hallmarks of another disaster in the making. Bob is not on his own in expressing those concerns. BlueScope is a major product manufacturer in the Illawarra providing jobs for thousands of workers, including those from the suburbs I represent in and around Shellharbour. BlueScope’s CEO Paul O’Malley is a little more diplomatic in expressing his concerns. He says they could live with the tax, provided tariffs are imposed on their overseas competitors who will not have to pay a carbon tax.

“If there’s going to be a CO2 tax, it should not tax local manufacturers and give importers a free ride,” he said.

The likelihood of protective tariffs being applied is so remote that some manufacturers are saying they could move their operations overseas. It would be cheaper for them, and they would not have to put up with Labor’s biased industrial relations laws, which favour the unions, as well as onerous taxes just to appease the Greens. China and Indonesia must be clapping their hands with glee. I would also suggest that BlueScope’s views are not unique throughout Illawarra manufacturing and allied industries. BlueScope and OneSteel have said:

It’s a direct threat to this NSW regional economy and the 12,000 workers and their families …

Even the unions representing the manufacturing industry have today deep concerns at the impact this carbon tax is going to have. But the South Coast Trades and Labor Council are all in favour of it. They, who allegedly seek to represent the views of the workers in the Illawarra, the Australian Workers Union, have dismissed these concerns as scaremongering. Yet, in the concluding remarks of its Illawarra head, Mr Andrew Gillespie, as reported in the Illawarra Mercury, acknowledges that many workers were concerned about the talk of BlueScope potentially shifting operations offshore. Mr Gillespie said:

I keep telling them I can’t give you answers on carbon price, or carbon relief, because it hasn’t been done yet.

Fuel prices are predicted to keep on rising, oil production globally has plateaued and food costs will rise. The government is now offering a raft of dispensations for carbon emitters. If the government is to compensate low- to middle-income earners, what is going to be achieved practically? Nothing. That is why I totally oppose the thrust and sentiment behind this motion. A carbon tax is not an essential step and it is specious in the extreme to argue so.

The only thing I agree with in this motion is that governments must work with the rest of the community and the manufacturing industry to meet the challenge of a carbon constrained future. This motion was moved by the member for Throsby, in whose electorate BlueScope Steel sits. My former colleague Jennie George, now retired, did a splendid job representing the working-class voters of the seat of Throsby. We may not have agreed on a number of issues, but she had my respect in the way that she stood up for the welfare of those she was elected to represent. I just wish I could say the same thing about her successor. Has he even bothered to sit down with the CEO of BlueScope to discuss the concerns so publicly expressed before putting his motion? If he has not, it would be in keeping with the growing practice of Labor governments in discounting the need for consultation.

I will certainly be doing all I can, and if that means crossing swords with the member for Throsby and the unions, then so be it. I condemn this motion for being just too clever by half. Nobody wants this carbon tax except the members opposite. Unlike them, I take seriously my responsibilities and the interests of the people I represent. I thank the Leader of the Opposition who took the time to visit BlueScope and the workers last week. This motion and the tax it seeks to promote just says loudly and clearly that the member for Throsby has deserted the workers he so loudly claims to support.

See this speech in context