Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the government's Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill 2022. The safeguard mechanism requires Australia's largest greenhouse gas emitters to keep their net emissions below an emissions limit, but the way that Labor has overhauled this policy means there is nothing safe for jobs in this bill, there is nothing safe businesses in this bill and there is nothing safe for the average Australian, who once again will be paying more under Labor.

This bill, according to the Albanese government, will help Australia achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This bill applies to facilities emitting more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. We all know that the Albanese government announced it would cut emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. In order to reach the 2030 climate target, the Albanese government is forcing 215 of Australia's biggest businesses to cut emissions by five per cent per year or pay for their emissions output. Almost one-third of these businesses are in Queensland, in the electorates of Flynn and Capricornia, which surround my electorate. There are 28 industry facilities and major businesses affected by this radical and nonsensical tax. Some of these companies are Rio Tinto, Santos, Anglo American, BlueScope Steel, BHP and Glencore. These companies employ thousands of people from across our region. They provide billions of dollars through state royalties. They go into emergency services, our hospitals and schools, and they contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to our communities through sponsorships, scholarships and donations.

Allow me to tell you a little bit about my electorate. Mackay, in the south of Dawson, is the base for many mineworkers, who travel over the hill into Capricornia or Flynn to work for the companies I have mentioned—not for fun but to earn a living. While thousands of our hardworking men and women go out west to work, their families and their homes are in Mackay. Not only is Mackay home to many mining and manufacturing workers; it's also a maintenance hub for the mining companies. It's not just the mineworkers and their families that rely on these jobs. Small businesses rely on people having jobs, and our house prices and investments rely on people having jobs. In order to have a healthy and thriving economy, people need to have jobs. We learnt this in school.

It's easy to see how reliant a place like Mackay is on the coal and manufacturing industries, but the Albanese government's extreme climate targets and the way it intends to meet them put all of these jobs in jeopardy. They put real estate investment in jeopardy, they put small business in jeopardy, and they put our children's future in jeopardy. This is typical Labor: create a problem, invent a tax for hardworking Australians, and then try to fix it. It doesn't make any sense.

For the past few minutes I've been telling the House what the Labor government wants you to believe the safeguard mechanism is and then what I believe it actually to be. You know the old saying: if it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. So let's call it for what it is. It's a tax on families, a tax on businesses and a big tax on regional Australia. It's carbon tax 2.0 and another major blow for the people of Australia and, more specifically, for the people of rural and regional Australia. It greatly concerns me that the Albanese Labor government is happily executing drastic climate targets with no consideration for the toll it takes on Australian jobs and on household budgets, at a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing, with increased mortgage rates, increased overdrafts for businesses, increased food and fuel costs and increased energy prices.

Leading up to the 2022 federal election, Prime Minister Albanese and his party promised there would be no carbon tax. Labor promised that not a single Australian coalmine would be impacted by their policy to reduce carbon emissions. But, after the election, the Albanese government says that any new gas or coal project will automatically come under the remit of the mechanism. We all know that the good folk in Central and Northern Queensland did not fall for the Labor promises at the 2022 federal election, and now you can see why. We are the type of hard-working, common-sense people who can see straight through porky pies. This is another broken Labor promise.

Central and North Queenslanders understood the coalition's sensible approach of achieving net zero by 2050 and delivering this in a responsible way that balances emissions reduction with economic growth. The coalition government mapped out a plan to achieve net zero by 2050 without new taxes. The coalition believes in technology, not taxes. In government, the coalition committed $22 billion to bring down the cost of low-emission technologies—that is, hydrogen, ultra-low-cost solar, green steel and aluminium—leveraging up to $132 billion in private sector investment and supporting over 160,000 jobs. Once these technologies are cost competitive with the existing alternative, people will voluntarily make the change. Now, I'll tell you this much: at the rate we're headed, there won't be much of the Australian dream left in a couple of years.

We are seeing how the effects of taxes are affecting investment in Queensland right now. Major miner BHP will not make any significant new investments in Queensland due to the state government's coal royalty tax. There is a strong long-term demand from global steelmakers for Queensland's high-quality metallurgical coal. But we are being told that, in the absence of good government policy that is both competitive and predictable, companies are unable to commit to significant new investments in Queensland. Senex Energy's $1 billion investment plan to bring new gas to the east coast is at risk. BHP has also put plans for the Blackwater South mine in Central Queensland on hold for the foreseeable future. The Palaszczuk Labor government have firmly shot our state right in the foot with their coal royalties, and now the Albanese government is trying to do the same. Queensland businesses are set to pay an extra $4 billion in tax with Labor's carbon tax.

Our mining and resource sector is the No. 1 contributor to keeping our nation afloat, the No. 1 regional employer and the No. 1 industry for export dollars. This industry supports over 450,000 jobs for Queenslanders and 14,000-plus businesses, all of whom pay tax to help fund hospitals, schools, roads, our NDIS and all other government services. The thanks the industry and the workers get is to pay more tax and prop up a bloated Canberra bureaucracy. It's starting to become clear that Labor's carbon tax 2.0 will be devastating for regional and rural Queensland families. Life is already tough in the regions. We don't need another tax. Everyone is already tightening their belts. This will just add more pressure, and this is just plain irresponsible.

Meanwhile Labor's policy lets high-emissions electricity users completely off the hook. Some of our big banks, who are large energy users with their data centres, get off scot-free. It's the high-vis industries of mining and manufacturing who are coughing up again, not the suit-wearing industries that create emissions in the cities. But let's face it. We all know we pay more under Labor. We all know life is harder under Labor. Labor's carbon tax will drive up the cost of living at a time when Australian workers and families can least afford it. The businesses that do hang around will pass the additional costs straight on to consumers through higher food prices and higher prices for building materials. Currently the people in my region are dealing with interest rate hikes, rising energy costs, increases in insurance premiums, fuel hikes and cuts in roads and communications infrastructure, and they are now dealing with the fear of job losses.

A month ago the Prime Minister turned up in Mackay for a one-hour photo opportunity. He didn't take the time to talk to mining or manufacturing companies. He didn't take the time to talk to workers or small-business owners. He certainly didn't take the time to visit our substandard roads and note our lack of infrastructure. His lack of interest in the region is obvious and alarming. I often wonder: where did the Labor Party go? The old Labor Party would never put Greens policies above what was right for the high-vis worker. The old Labor used to stand up for miners and the resource sector. Now they just tax the life out of them. The Labor Party's constituency base used to be the working class, but these days it seems to me that they're in an identity crisis, because it's clear what they stand for and what values they base their policies on, and it's clear that they no longer value the worker. They penalise people who work hard and who want to get ahead without relying on government handouts. It is very clear to the people of Central and North Queensland that the Albanese Labor government are holding the regions back. Australians are always paying more under Labor.

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