Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton has woken up. If he cannot tell people how their jobs will be affected under this government's carbon tax, why would anyone vote for it. Labor's response is to say that members on this side are scaremongering, that we do not know what we are talking about. How do they respond to industry concerns? Industries like BlueScope Steel have concerns. In relation to a carbon tax, on 28 February this year, chief executive of BlueScope Steel, Paul O'Malley, said:

That is clearly economic vandalism. It clearly says we don't want manufacturing in Australia.

He further said:

... the policy framework at the moment is wrong. It seems to be captured by people who don't care whether there are manufacturing jobs in Australia, and you just wonder whether there is an anti-manufacturing focus in Australia and that people want jobs to go offshore.

Suddenly, the member for Moreton is silent. Manufacturing is important in Gippsland. We are renowned for the power stations in the Latrobe Valley, which will also be adversely affected by this government's plans. We also have a manufacturing sector which provides more than 5,000 jobs across 465 businesses. Businesses like Gippsland aviation, National Foods in Morwell and Patties Foods in Bairnsdale all have very high energy costs and will take a hit under the carbon tax. Another significant employer in my electorate is Murray Goulburn. The dairy industry does not get talked about much in this place, but it is one of the largest exporters in Victoria and it produces 65 per cent of Australia's milk across 4½ thousand dairy farms. It might be useful for members opposite to start listening to what some of Australia's major manufacturers are saying. During an interview on ABC Radio about the carbon tax, Murray Goulburn's Manager of Industry and Government Affairs, Robert Poole, said:

A carbon tax in Australia doesn't influence the world market price. As everyone should know milk prices in Australia are predominantly driven by that. The price in the international dairy market, including Australia, isn't going to change because of a carbon tax. Therefore any costs that it ... imposes we have to wear and that means our farmers have to wear them.

He further said:

We don't want our international competitiveness reduced through a tax at this stage ... We don't see that's going to help the environment and don't see how that will help us as a major contributor to the Australian economy.

The United Dairy Farmers of Victoria have expressed similar concerns and they have tried to bring them to the attention of government. The member for Eden-Monaro was in the House earlier talking about compensation for emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries. Individual dairy farmers will not benefit from any compensation package under this government. We know that, the government know that and dairy farmers know that as well. UDV president, Chris Griffin said:

Calculations by our organisation indicate that a $20 carbon price would cost the dairy industry over $45 million per annum. This would work out to a $5000 charge for each Australian dairy farm per year.

The biggest concern of all though remains with the fundamental breach of trust between this government and the Australian people. On this point, the Labor Party has simply nowhere to hide. On 20 August last year we had this news clipping from the Australian: 'PM's carbon price promise'—here it is in full colour—and the Prime Minister says, 'I rule out a carbon tax.'

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