Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian people decide who is in the Australian parliament and the Australian government then have to negotiate. So the Leader of the Opposition lies back in his chair with his feet on the table and his hands behind his head and says, 'You are going to vote for me, aren't you, you Independents, you Greens, because I am the opposition leader now?' That was the difference. The Prime Minister went in and negotiated.

One of the Independents told us that the Leader of the Opposition said, 'I'll give you whatever you like except I won't sell a certain part of my anatomy.' That is the difference. The Prime Minister of Australia went in and genuinely negotiated. Part of this situation was caused by the Liberal preferences going to the Greens—and that is the parliament we have got. The government has been upfront about the carbon price and electricity prices, as they affect all Australians.

Treasury modelling has found that the carbon price would increase household electricity prices by 10 per cent, $3.30 a week on average. The Electricity Regulator determinations have confirmed this. In some cases, the carbon impact has been less than the Treasury's estimates. To meet the impact, the government has provided $10.10 a week on average to households. The opposition should focus on the state Liberal governments, who are lining their pockets with this compensation from those in public housing. It is important to establish these facts because those opposite are engaged in a cowardly campaign of frightening pensioners.

Recently the opposition leader made several misleading claims about an electricity bill from West Australia. The opposition leader told the House there was an $800 increase in just one bill, 70 per cent of which was due to the carbon tax. But, surprise, surprise, when this bill was examined it was clear that the proportion of the increase which was due to the carbon price was a fraction of the claimed 70 per cent. This is lazy, this is deceitful and this treats pensioners disrespectfully, as nothing but fodder for a political scare campaign. If the opposition really cared about pensioners, they would have established the facts about this bill, rather than rushing in here to distort it for political ends.

Those opposite have misled people generally and senior Australians in particular about job losses. Those opposite have misled people about assistance for small business. They have misled people about the strength of our economy. It has been a farce of wrecking balls, cobra strikes, python squeezes, dogs of taxes and octopus embraces. It is time the opposition displayed some integrity and put this discredited scare campaign out of its misery.

The member for Moore is a man of great integrity and a person who in my short time here I have grown to admire for both his words and actions. I think the opposition should take his advice and come up with properly funded policies which look to the future. The opposition leader should get off his downward spiral of negativity by taking advice from the member for Moore.

The carbon price has been in operation for over 100 days. Before it started, the opposition leader made countless dire predictions about its impact. Plague and pestilence were to be brought upon us. Not a single one of those predictions has come to pass. The opposition leader had predicted: Whyalla, Gladstone and the Hunter Valley would all be wiped off the map, but investment is growing—the Mayor of Whyalla says his town is 'kicking goals'; the death of the coal industry, but Australia's exports of thermal coal are forecast to increase by 12 per cent to 165 million tonnes in 2012—in fact, another coal loader has been ordered for Newcastle; the death of the steel industry, yet OneSteel, or Arrium, is now the subject of a takeover bid; and the death of manufacturing, but manufacturing employment has grown by 9,000 jobs since the carbon price began. We know that some areas are doing it tough, and Bass in Tasmania is one of those areas, but that is nothing to do with the carbon price. I believe it is partly because the community, including businesses, have been relying on the pulp mill being built.

The opposition leader predicted the price on carbon would create unimaginable price increases, yet the RBA can find no significant price rises. He also predicted tens of thousands of job losses, but the unemployment rate has dropped from 5.3 per cent to 5.1 per cent. The opposition leader has repeatedly claimed no other country is taking action. But Australia's carbon price will soon be linked to a scheme covering more than 30 other countries, and recently the government of the US state of California—the eighth largest economy in the world—announced that it will be exploring the potential linking of our carbon markets.

Contrary to the opposition leader's fallacious claims, the government's Household Assistance Package, funded by the carbon price, has made millions of people better off. The government has delivered tax cuts, higher family payments, increases in pensions and benefits to millions of households to help with the modest cost-of-living impacts. One million people no longer have to file a tax return because we trebled the tax-free threshold. That is a reform those opposite would never have made. It is only tax cuts for the wealthy that they understand. We know the opposition, when in government, were the highest taxing government as a proportion of GDP in Australia's history.

The opposition leader has trafficked in fiction and, if I can borrow a word from the minister, in a mendacious scare campaign. He continues to do it despite the facts and despite reality. The opposition have misled the people about the strength of our economy. It has been a farce of wrecking balls, cobra strikes, python squeezes, dogs of taxes and octopus embraces.

The carbon price is an essential economic reform. It is vital for our long-term competitiveness. It will allow Australia to play its part in tackling global climate change and at the same time improve our productivity through better use of energy inputs. Numerous economic reports have found that, while taking action has an economic cost, the cost of inaction will be far greater. The cheapest and most efficient way of reducing carbon pollution is to harness the power of the market, to put a price tag on greenhouse gas pollution that creates an incentive to cut that pollution. Every major economy is tackling climate change. Countries are using a mixture of regulation, carbon pricing, renewable energy targets and investment. Ensuring Australia does its fair share in tackling the global problem of climate change, we are doing this at least cost and are in a position to compete and prosper in a low-carbon economy, enhancing the productivity of Australian industry so that we are well placed to take up the growth opportunities that will be available in Asia and beyond over the next decades, which will support all Australians, including senior Australians, into the future.

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