Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The carbon tax is the one issue that defines the Labor Party. It is the one issue that encapsulates the integrity of the Labor Party. You might think that this question was removed from political debate with the departure of former Prime Minister Gillard. Not so. Even today, I invite the people to judge the Labor Party by one simple test: will they keep their word on the carbon tax or not? What could be more simple than that? Will they act in accordance with the clear and overwhelming view of the Australian people as expressed at the last election? They are in denial. They refuse to honour their word. They refuse to accept what the people of Australia have said.

When the then Prime Minister of Australia said, four days before the 2010 election, that there would be no carbon tax under a government she led, Australians understandably took that promise at face value. As history has recorded, the prime minister broke that promise and, indeed, the trust of the Australian people. The carbon tax came into effect on 1 July 2012 and was supposed to impose a tax of $23 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions on the so-called 500 biggest polluters. The Clean Energy Regulator, however, was constantly updating and revising its hit list of local councils and companies, resulting in chaos and confusion. At one stage it was supposed to be 500 and then 250; the list was eventually revised to 315, of which 77 operate solely in Queensland.

In late July 2012, almost a month after the carbon tax came into effect, the Clean Energy Regulator decided that an additional 24 organisations, primarily electricity providers, would be added to the list of so-called big polluters. On 7 August 2012, the list was revised again. Little wonder that confusion reigned when it came to Labor's carbon tax. This was an economy-wide tax which hit every level of industry from multinational corporations to small businesses and families. This was an electricity tax, a gas tax and a food tax. It was not, however, a tax to reduce emissions. It was all financial pain for no environmental gain.

The tourism industry was among the hardest hit by this toxic tax. In my home state of Queensland, tourism is a crucial industry generating jobs and income for many residents and businesses located outside the south-east corner. Labor's carbon tax hit at a time when the industry was only just starting to recover from some of the Sunshine State's worst natural disasters—the devastating floods of 2011 and Cyclone Yasi up north. When the carbon tax was first announced, the Tourism and Transport Forum produced a damning report that highlighted the loss of 6,400 jobs industry-wide. The TTF also stated the impact of the carbon tax would cost the tourism industry 10 per cent of industry profits and that the net beneficiary of that carbon tax would be outbound tourism. It was not good news for an industry already in trouble. Virgin Australia, in February this year, confirmed it had paid $24.4 million in carbon tax in the first half of the financial year. That was just in the first six months of the carbon tax, up to December 2012. During the 2013 financial year, the company paid $47.9 million in carbon tax, a cost which they were unable to recover due to strong competition in the market. The company was also forced to impose a surcharge on ticket prices following the introduction of the carbon tax. That meant an extra $1.50 for flights of less than 900 kilometres, rising to $3 for flights between 901 kilometres and 2,000 kilometres and $6 for sectors longer than 2,000 kilometres. It was everyday Australians who were footing the bill for the carbon tax, not the so-called big polluters.

The Brisbane City Council was also branded by the Labor Gillard government as one of the top polluters in the country. It was estimated that the carbon tax would cost the council about $65 million over a four-year period from when the carbon tax was introduced in 2012. Brisbane Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk, lobbied tirelessly against the government's ridiculous decision to penalise Brisbane's ratepayers, but those pleas fell on deaf ears. The Lord Mayor confirmed the total carbon tax bill for the council for 2012-13 was $15.8 million which included up to $11 million for the 0.7 per cent rise in inflation, $3.5 million in carbon permits for landfill, and $1.3 million for carbon tax administration. Given these costs, the 2012-13 council budget showed that average residential rates would rise by 4.5 per cent The federal government's carbon tax made up 1.9 per cent of the subsequent overall increase in rates. Councillor Quirk estimated the $1.05 a week average rise could have been just 60c a week without the carbon tax, so approximately 40 per cent less.

Brisbane City Council is Australia's largest council, with over one million residents. As a result Brisbane has greater responsibilities than other councils, including the operation of landfill sites and public transport. Brisbane ratepayers have already spent millions of dollars achieving real green initiatives. Between 1990 and 2010 Brisbane City Council more than halved its annual carbon emissions from 500,000 tonnes to 220,000 tonnes on the way to achieving its target for the council to become carbon neutral by 2026.

The LNP council is currently purchasing 100 per cent green power for its buildings and offsetting all carbon emissions from its public transport and vehicle fleets. In addition, it has planted two million trees and acquired more than 500 hectares of at-risk bushland from development. Yet, despite these great green initiatives to reduce the council's carbon footprint, Brisbane City Council still did not meet the Gillard government's flawed carbon tax criteria because it had landfill sites and capturing the methane was not taken into account.

The impact of the carbon tax did not stop there. It hit many small businesses across the country, including in my electorate of Ryan. Luke Sherman, the owner of Cave Coffee in Keperra, asked me during the election campaign to imagine a cheese sandwich—no ham, no tomato and no spreads; just a humble cheese sandwich. How much do you think that would cost at your local cafe? Around $4? Luke's food costs went up around 25 per cent with the introduction of the carbon tax.

By the time a cheese sandwich lands in Luke's refrigerators ready for his customers he has essentially received it fourth-hand and paid for it. The cheese has made its way from the factory and the bread from the bakery to the wholesaler. At this stage the transportation of the goods has incurred carbon tax and now the wholesaler will be paying extra in his electricity costs as a result of the carbon tax. Once Luke has received the goods from the wholesaler he has to pay any extra costs that have been passed on as well as paying extra on his own electricity bills. So in the end Luke has to make a decision: does he pass the extra costs on to his customers, does he stop stocking certain types of food or does he, like many other owners, take a pay cut and wear the extra costs himself?

Luke used to own two coffee shops: one in Keperra and the other in Fortitude Valley. He had to close his Fortitude Valley shop because it was no longer viable. But on a more positive note, he says that consumer confidence has been returning since the change of government. He said that people are much happier with a stable government and he is looking forward to the economy improving under the coalition.

Back in August 2012 I promised every constituent in my electorate of Ryan that there would be no carbon tax under a coalition government. I am proud to say that we will keep that promise. The coalition was elected with a mandate to scrap the carbon tax and reduce costs for businesses and households, boost jobs and manufacturing and restore Australia's international competitiveness. This government is committed to abolishing the carbon tax and will work to ensure that the repeal bills are passed as soon as possible.

Australian households and businesses will be better off without a carbon tax. Households in Ryan will be about $550 better off in 2014-15 than they would have been with the carbon tax in place. This is about taking the pressure off electricity and gas bills.

To ensure that companies will pass the benefits on to consumers, the government will give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission the powers and resources to take necessary action against businesses that engage in price exploitation. The ACCC will be given new powers to take action against businesses that attempt to exploit other businesses and consumers by keeping prices unreasonably high or making false or misleading claims. Penalties of up to $1.1 million for corporations and $220,000 for individuals will apply.

The carbon tax will be abolished but the government will keep the household assistance package to help families with the cost of living. Julia Gillard promised that there would be no carbon tax. Kevin Rudd said that he would terminate the carbon tax. Anthony Albanese said that he would put a zero price on the carbon tax. The Labor Party is going to vote to keep the carbon tax but does not even have the courage to say so. Only the coalition government is taking action to abolish the carbon tax lock, stock and barrel.

No new carbon tax liabilities will accrue from 1 July 2014. This includes both the carbon tax and the equivalent carbon tax on fuels used in shipping, rail and air transport and on synthetic greenhouse gases. Ending the carbon tax at the end of the financial year will make the transition as simple as possible. Industry assistance programs will continue for the remainder of the year to help businesses meet current liabilities but will be abolished when the carbon tax ends. The Climate Change Authority will be abolished, as its functions will be delivered through the new merged environment department.

On this side of the chamber we believe that good governments engage in proper consultation. That is why public consultation was invited until 4 November. That enabled the legislation to be considered before its introduction into the parliament. The repeal of the Clean Energy Act and associated regulations is modelled to reduce cost-of-living pressures on households and cost pressures on businesses.

By reducing the cost of electricity and gas we will help to make households better off, workers more secure and our economy stronger. As well as ensuring that households in Ryan will be, on average, $550 better off in the 2014 financial year it is estimated that retail electricity should be around nine per cent lower and retail gas prices around seven per cent lower than they would otherwise be. This will mean that household average electricity bills will be around $200 lower in 2014-15 than they otherwise would have been with a carbon tax and household average gas bills will be around $70 lower than they otherwise would have been with a carbon tax.

By repealing the carbon tax, businesses will see a reduction in the cost of inputs. The main driver of input cost increases has been the impact of the carbon tax on energy prices. Business compliance costs are also expected to fall by around $87.6 million per annum as a consequence of repealing the carbon tax. As Rod Sims from the ACCC said earlier this month, 'What went up will clearly come down when you take away the carbon tax'.

The carbon tax did not do the job the previous government said it would. Domestic emissions under the carbon tax continue to rise. Labor's own modelling, which it submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, shows that our emissions increased under the carbon tax from around 560 million tonnes in 2010 to 637 million tonnes in 2020. Australia's emissions were 557 million tonnes in the year to March 2013—exactly the same level as the previous year according to the latest emissions data.

The centrepiece of our Direct Action plan will be the Emissions Reduction Fund, a fund which provides a powerful and direct additional incentive for businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This fund will use positive incentives to reduce Australia's emissions. The government's Emissions Reduction Fund will achieve a five per cent reduction in domestic emissions by 2020 without an electricity tax. Preliminary figures from the Department of the Environment indicate that our abatement challenge is now around 440 million tonnes to 2020 rather than the 750 million tonnes assumed in the last official projections in 2012. We will focus on measures that directly address the 440 million tonne abatement challenge to reduce emissions through measures like reafforestation, cleaning up power stations, cleaning up waste land fill and waste coal mine gas. The government will purchase domestic emissions at the lowest possible cost to meet its targets. Labor would rather burden families and businesses with an economy-wide carbon tax that fails to reduce emissions and sends industry offshore.

As the Prime Minister correctly stated when introducing these repeal bills: the Australian people have already voted on this bill; now the parliament will get its chance. This election was a referendum on the carbon tax, and now we intend to show the people of Ryan that we listened.

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