Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The fact is that the Leader of the Opposition has been getting around the whole country scaring people, in the same way as that very famous story about the sky falling in, saying it is going to fall nowhere harder or further than in the place we have been hearing about here, Whyalla. The reality is that we need to get some facts on the record here for Australian people. In my seat there is a pensioner who has gone recently to a tax agent and actually asked, 'How do I pay my carbon tax?' That is how misled she has been by the members of the opposition absolutely misleading and fear-mongering when the reality is that in the seat of Robertson we have got so many people set to benefit by the assistance we will give them by taking the money from those who will be polluting, helping them to change their behaviours, and assisting families as we move to a clean future.

About 10,600 families in the seat of Robertson have received a lump sum payment in their bank accounts, which means $2.2 million to assist them as we make this transition. That is money from polluters to families to help them manage this change. Families on family tax benefit A are going to get $110 per child and those on family tax benefit B are going to get $69 per child. I inform the member who has just been on her feet that in the seat of Ryan there are 6,200 families that she does not want to assist, that she is rejecting any assistance for. A typical family with a household income of $75,000 with two kids in school is going to see an expected impact of $549 a year from the carbon price. This is the fact. It will not be astronomical. In contrast to the increases we have seen in electricity prices to today, we as a federal Labor government are giving assistance to people to make this very significant change.

As a person living in New South Wales I have paid incredibly increased electricity bills. Anybody listening to this broadcast should remember that to this day there is no carbon price. At this point of time in New South Wales power has gone up in the last three years by 55 per cent. Where is my assistance, Barry O'Farrell? Where is the Liberal government assisting with that in any way? We have made sure that we give assistance not only to families.

The member for Ryan speaks of her great concern for pensioners. She has got 11,600 of them in her electorate, and we are helping them by giving them $338 extra per year if they are a single and an extra $510 per year for couples combined. I hope she writes to those 11,600 people and lets them know that she is not going to help them. I am very pleased to say that in my electorate of Robertson we have 26,500 pensioners who are getting assistance to the tune of $5.8 million to make sure that they are going to be well looked after while we make this transition.

So when 1 July rolls around we will be making sure that the sky is not falling, because we understand that ordinary people, ordinary working Australians, need a hand as we make massive reform in our economy. When we put in superannuation everybody on the other side said it could not be done, it should not be done, and there could not be a worse time. And now we hear that it could not be done, it should not be done and there could not be a worse time. It is always the same relentless, destructive negativity. We have got on the record here a plan for the future, hope for our country, opportunities for lots of businesses to get on and reward for ordinary working Australians, who get to share in the benefit of this great country.

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