Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those were very interesting comments from the previous speaker, but I rise today to speak about the damage that this government is set to inflict on the constituents in the electorate of Hasluck, which I represent. The carbon tax is a $9 billion a year tax which every Australian will pay through their electricity and gas bills. In the first four years it will total $36 billion. Despite this poor policy decision, Australia's emissions will actually increase from 578 million tonnes to 621 million tonnes by 2020. Instead of reducing Australia's emissions, firms will have to purchase 94 million tonnes of carbon permits overseas each year by 2020. The government estimates a rise in electricity prices of up to 10 per cent in five years, although the electricity producers are predicting 20 per cent increases over the next 18 months. Families still have to turn on the lights, cook the dinner, do the washing, run a computer and have heating and cooling. Small businesses face the same price measures but will have no option but to pass on the cost to their customers, forcing prices up in general. The carbon tax comes at the worst possible time for manufacturers, who are struggling against a high Australian dollar, while their overseas competitors do not have this specific increased cost pressure.

I have received hundreds of emails and telephone messages from the community of Hasluck. Let me read out just two quotes from emails that have been sent to me in the last week:

I am a Service widow, surviving on a very low service DFRDB pension … The carbon tax will see the end of any small amount of spare money I can find. Why should I be paying this when there is no reason for Australia to have this tax?

Also I will not be one of the ones compensated for the tax.

I don't speak up normally, but my very existence is now in question.

That was from a pensioner in the north of Hasluck. These are pretty damning words which show how, with the heartlessness of the Gillard government, no heart and no compassion prevails. The next quote comes from someone in the far south of my electorate:

As your constituent, I am writing to you to demand a repeal of the unnecessary, destructive tax on carbon dioxide. This tax will hurt me and my family, as electricity prices go up, the price of goods will go up, and jobs in our local community will be lost. This tax will do nothing to help the environment and is based on a lie. I call upon you to publicly call for its repeal.

As I have said before, there are literally hundreds of similar emails or letters that I could read out today.

Small businesses are also very concerned, for many reasons. Firstly, where is their compensation for this tax? Where is their money coming from every week to offset the increases in utility prices? It will not be coming. That is why the costs will be passed on to their customers—and this is an environment that is hardly conducive to extra burdens being placed on our small businesses. Another cause of concern is the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which will see the government use taxpayers' money to buy shares in green projects which the private sector will not back. How many government members have invested their super funds in clean energy projects? Green small businesses setting up will get the government handouts to launch their businesses in my electorate, despite the possibility of not being a financially viable project or having already been knocked back by a bank for finance. What a great way of getting a risk-free loan when credible financial institutions will not fund these initiatives. This creates an unlevel playing field and further hurts small businesses that are already under siege.

The European ETS has raised only $500 million a year, while Labor's carbon tax will raise more in three months that Europe's did in five years, according to the Weekend Australianof 9 July 2011. With a population of just over 500 million, the EU scheme raised just $1 per person. With a population of less than 23 million, Julia Gillard's carbon tax will raise more than $400 per person per year. Meanwhile, the US, Canada, India, China and Japan have all made it clear that they are not moving to a broad-based carbon tax model like Australia's.

Whatever spin and deceit comes from the government, the people of Hasluck and around the nation know that the next election will be a referendum on the carbon tax. If elected, the coalition will repeal the carbon tax as soon as possible. In contrast to this pie-in-the-sky policy of the Labor Party, the coalition's direct action plan will deliver on Australia's commitment to a five per cent reduction in emissions by 2020. It is a simpler way and delivers better environmental outcomes without a carbon tax that drives up prices for families and businesses in Hasluck.

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