Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I was just about to say, for businesses electricity prices are only one component of their costs. For the vast majority of businesses, total electricity costs are two per cent or less of their turnover, making a carbon price impact of around 0.2 per cent. Then, when you have truly assessed the carbon price impact, there are various ways of businesses working to reduce their carbon emissions, to reduce their electricity usage, to adopt clean energy measures and energy efficient measures. The government is working with business to provide assistance with a number of those measures.

I hope the member is not so blinkered that she is participating in the fear campaign or that she is not doing things like providing information to her constituents about the $40 million Energy Efficient Information Grants program, which is helping small businesses cut energy costs. I hope she is not so determined to be out there peddling fear that she is not pointing to all aspects of this package.

Once again, I would remind the member for Murray, who is a member of long standing in this place, that she was a supporter of a price on carbon. She asked her constituents to vote for her in 2007 on the basis of supporting a price on carbon. She proudly supported John Howard's emissions trading scheme and the truth is if she was going—

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