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

No, the Greens promised they would. Government ministers claim to stand up for local jobs; they do claim to stand up for blue-collar workers. Then they like to say that members on this side are overstating the impact of a carbon tax.

I would like to refer briefly, in the time, I have left to a letter I received this week from a gentleman in my electorate who actually wrote to the Minister for Resources and Energy. This is a letter from Angelo Gaudiano. I have not got time to go through the whole letter, but I did get the opportunity to table it the other day thanks to the government's goodwill. Mr Gaudiano said:

Since the formation of Energy Brix Australia in 1993 we have worked hard to survive. We have had to cut back in numbers and have sacrificed pay rises just so the company would remain viable. The company has also spent a lot of money and resources on the plant over the years to make it more reliable and efficient. The company and its employees have endured many hurdles and have turned a loss making business into a profit making business with a future.

Since the introduction of the Carbon Tax, the Company has endured financial difficulties due to low electricity prices. Due to this financial strain on the business the maintenance on the plant has been reduced which has caused a downturn in production due to breakdowns. Once the carbon tax comes into effect at the start of July the business will be unviable. It will have to shut. Over 200 workers will lose their jobs and the community will be greatly affected with families leaving the area.

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The Prime Minister promised that no one will lose their jobs or be disadvantaged by the Carbon Tax. The Union (CFMEU) promised that no one will lose their jobs or be disadvantaged by the Carbon tax. The Union promised it would work with the Government in ensuring alternative base load power stations be constructed in the area so that it will provide jobs for the long term. So far nothing has been done. ...

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… I worry for the future of my family and I fear for the future of the community that I live in and have invested in as I know it is going to suffer greatly in the very near future and take many years to recover from the effects that this unpopular carbon tax legislation will bring.

I am also tired talk about clean energy transition by local governments and groups. Talk does not produce jobs. We need positive action now. So please take my letter seriously, I am very frustrated and scared about my future.

Angelo is a boiler turbine operator who informs me the minister has not responded to his letter. What a surprise! What a surprise that people like Angelo simply do not trust this government! And why would they?

Today I had the opportunity also to ask questions to the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government. I asked him some questions about the Regional Structural Adjustment Assistance Program. This little beauty is a $200-million program to assist communities strongly affected by carbon pricing! But, remarkably, given that the carbon tax comes into effect on 1 July—that there are going to be announcements, supposedly, on Contract for Closure, on 1 July—the minister informed me that the guidelines for this program have not been developed yet. What are we waiting for? It is less than five weeks away and the guidelines for the $200-million structural adjustment package for regional communities have not been developed yet. This Contract for Closure is a dud policy from a dud government and this Clean Energy Finance Corporation just adds to the long list of policy failures from a government that has forgotten who it is meant to represent.

The Labor Party of old used to stand up for blue-collar workers like Angelo Gaudiano. Now it stands for staying in power at all costs, and it is doing pathetic deals with the Greens, who have never created a job in regional Australia and are a direct threat to jobs in a wide range of regional industries.

I have mentioned before in the House, and I will say it again tonight: there is an absolute crisis of confidence in regional communities directly linked to the uncertainty this government has created through its reckless decision to legislate for the world's biggest carbon tax. As long as this carbon tax hangs over the heads of Australian businesses it is hard to see that confidence being restored. Until this government actually asks the Australian people for their permission to introduce a carbon tax, they will never be trusted again.

It simply staggers me that this once grand old party that claimed to represent blue-collar workers could come in here every day and still pretend that it represents the workers of this nation, when it has a policy in place to sack hundreds of blue-collar workers in power stations throughout Australia and has no plan whatsoever on the table to actually compensate those communities or provide alternative arrangements. The carbon tax will come into effect on 1 July and once this Contract for Closure policy is announced there will be more jobs lost in communities like mine. This government assures me—the minister assured me today—that the guidelines have not been prepared yet. The Australian people simply do not trust this government and its assurances, they do not trust this Prime Minister with their jobs and I would love to see her show the same passion for their jobs as she has shown in fighting to keep her own. (Time expired)

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