Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I once said in this House that it is very difficult to hear yourself think, but I will not say that again. Those who sit opposite may think this is a jovial matter but the reality is that the biodiesel industry in Australia in particular has struggled under cost impediments, many of which are going to be accentuated when this government introduces a carbon tax. What we hope to do with this amendment is to give the industry some certainty at a time when industries Australia-wide face constant increases in their costs and constant increases in their taxes. For the biodiesel industry, these sorts of disruptions cannot be tolerated.

Had the government been responsible, they would not have linked these four bills together and tried to blackmail those people who did not want to introduce a tax on families. What they did was to link the four bills so that, if all four do not pass, royal assent is not granted. We do not gamble with people's lives. We do not gamble with their livelihoods.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

I do not think the minister opposite should ever use the word 'cliche' in the same sentence. The reality is that the only way to deliver the certainty that the biodiesel industry needs is to support this amendment so that, if the government in its usual inept style is unable to guarantee the passage of this legislation and into royal assent by 30 June—which I remind the minister is only a few weeks away—the biodiesel industry will not be wrecked like every other industry that the government touches. They have the reverse Midas touch. We are going to try and help them actually get something right for a change.

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