Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

has been lifted from their shoulders. They have had to wait nine long months since giving a government the mandate to get rid of this carbon tax for it to actually happen, because Labor has resisted it to the end. Labor has resisted it even though they promised in Townsville before the election that they would get rid of the carbon tax. Labor is a friend of the carbon tax and will stay that way well and truly into the future. They have declared that. If they promise at the next election that they are going to get rid of it, that promise will be just as empty as the promises in 2010 and 2013.

But at last it has happened: Australian householders will have the burden of a $550-a-year cost lifted from their bills. The $9 billion hit on Australian jobs will be gone. These are the sorts of things that make a real difference to our economy. Our power bills go down, our business becomes more competitive, and we are able to supply products more efficiently and more competitively to the rest of the world. This is going to deliver real benefits to the Australian economy and to Australian consumers. And I congratulate the mayor of Brisbane, Australia's biggest local authority, which has been amongst the first off the block to make the commitment that they will reduce rates—

Ms Butler interjecting—

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