Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

$46 million—as a direct result of the carbon tax and potentially millions more in indirect costs associated with the tax. This is a tax their competitors overseas do not face. The carbon tax is the equivalent of loading up a pack horse with 10 tonnes of bricks. It inhibits the potential for resource companies to use that money to invest in growth that might lead to more jobs. For some reason, the Labor Party wants to keep that tax in place.

The live cattle trade is another example of a Labor plan that has destroyed job growth in the bush. One night, as we all slept, the Labor Party shut down Australia's cattle export trade. There was no warning. Cattle producers lost their marketplace. Farm workers lost their jobs. Livestock truck drivers lost their jobs. Cattle buyers lost their jobs. People on the shipping terminals lost their jobs. And the blokes who deliver the cattle drench lost their jobs. Our cattle producers in Capricornia are still paying for that plan. Cattle that could no longer be shipped overseas were flooded onto the domestic market, causing beef prices to plummet. If the cattle industry had been left to prosper, people might still have those types of jobs.

Then there is our local abattoir, Teys Australia. This meat processor is among Rockhampton's biggest employers, providing more than 1,000 jobs. They too pay carbon tax. In fact, it has cost the local abattoir nearly $1.8 million in direct and indirect costs associated with this reckless tax. As their customers do not pay for the carbon tax, this money effectively comes out of the pockets of Australian cattle producers via reduced prices that the meat processor can pay for cattle. How many more jobs could be created here if there was no carbon tax?

As Toyota drivers might say, 'Oh what feeling!' Oh what a feeling of shame, that is—a feeling of shame that Labor is destroying opportunities for jobs growth through its carbon tax. The best thing our government can do for the workers in Australia is to build a stronger, more prosperous economy. That is why we are committed to scrapping Labor's carbon tax.

See this speech in context