Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

I say to the member for Bruce: I'm still in this place, and we're not supporting the Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill 2022. It's a privilege today to stand here in this House and bring clarity to the Australian public about what lies beneath the surface of this bill and why the coalition will be voting against this new tax, which would be passed on to the Australian public.

I live in the electorate of Petrie, which is located in Brisbane's north and the Moreton Bay region. It's a beautiful electorate, filled with freshwater creeks, saltwater creeks, mangrove ecosystems and the life they support, and coral reefs growing in the waters of Moreton Bay. When it comes to looking after the environment, I'm a big supporter, and so is a coalition. We rolled out projects like the Green Army, which made a real difference to local communities on the ground in suburbs in my electorate, like Griffin, Mango Hill and Clontarf. It was a hands-on, practical environmental action program rolled out right across Australia.

When it comes to supporting and caring for the environment, I'm all for it. Take what the member for Sydney is doing to protect the waters surrounding Macquarie Island. That's a good policy, but the policy that we're seeing here is bad policy because it will hurt Australians and put up the cost of living. We might see emissions on our side of the equator drop, but the economic consequences for many businesses will only push further production off our shores, and the very solar panels and wind turbines that the Albanese government wants to replace coal and gas with, required to power renewable energy, will all be manufactured in China. Over 97 per cent of solar panels are manufactured in China. That's what we're replacing coal and gas with.

This is a big issue. We're putting these emissions into the hands of a country that is responsible for over 25 per cent of the world's carbon emissions. No-one is denying the fact that we have to take care of the environment, but the policies that we pass in this place should be responsible and considered decisions that will grow our economy, protect livelihoods and not make people poorer. The coalition government showed that this can be done, and I want to thank the people of Petrie for backing the coalition at the last election and the results that we delivered.

The truth is that it doesn't need to be a choice between the two. We can lower emissions, keep the environment clean and support the economy without taxing the people that we represent. The coalition delivered on climate change while still growing the economy and protecting everyday Australians from bearing the cost. The coalition created a plan to achieve net zero by 2050—27 years away. That would give ample time for industry to replace emissions in considered and achievable ways. We were also on track to meet and exceed our target at the last election by 2030. Emissions would reduce under the former coalition government's roughly 35 per cent. This plan better protected our industry. It better protected Australian jobs. It better protected small businesses and it better protected people's cost of living. It wasn't a new tax like this Labor government is doing now.

What the government is proposing abandons Australian industry and threatens jobs. It will cripple small and family business. It will send more manufacturing overseas, despite the rhetoric of this government prior to the last election about bringing more manufacturing back. It passes a tax on to everyday Australians. Because what the government is proposing is quite simply to implement a tax from now on. Let's be clear: this is not a tax just on big business; it's a tax that will affect everyday Australians, people on pensions, people on middle incomes, students, everyone. BlueScope Steel will be hit with this tax. We all use those products in our houses when we do extensions, putting a new carport out the front or building a new home with a steel frame.

Cement Australia will also be hit. So if you want to put in a new driveway in your home, or if you want to put a new cement slab for a shed out the back, or perhaps your son or daughter has got their learner's permit and is about to get their Ps and you need a new place for them to park and you're putting in more concrete, Cement Australia will be hit by this tax under Labor's bill.

The coalition believe in developing responsible and achievable targets by working with industry and industry groups to achieve real and sustainable change. Industry are on board and already making change. They don't need tax; they need partnership and innovation. They need support and time to achieve what has already been proved to work. Businesses and the Australian people are on board with a plan to reduce emissions. Under our government, the former coalition government, we acted and delivered.

Let me take a moment to outline exactly what we delivered when in government. We saw the results. Under the coalition electricity prices fell by eight per cent for households. Electricity prices fell 10 percent for small business and 12 per cent for industry. In the 10 months of this government we are already seeing massive increases in electricity and not just electricity, in mortgages and in the cost of living in general. Mortgage repayments, for example, have doubled. If anyone has got a home loan, you'll know that your mortgage repayment has doubled, and you'll know that electricity bills and gas prices are going up. For nine years of the coalition government electricity prices fell eight per cent; 10 per cent for the small businesses and 12 per cent for industry. We still managed to achieve a 22 per cent emissions reduction on 2005 levels.

We did all this by overseeing record installations of renewable energy over the past three years, which saw record numbers of households take up initiatives like solar panels, helping to lower their power prices. We put more renewable energy into the grid in one year than the Labor government did in the previous six years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments. Compared with the six years of the last Labor government, we did more in one year. We unlocked gas supply in Narrabri and the Beetaloo basin to support our manufacturers and firm renewables. What does that mean? It means that when people in my electorate turn on the barbecue on Saturday, they can a steak and still be able to buy gas at a reasonable price. What we are seeing in the 10 months since the Albanese Labor government was elected is gas prices increasing by 75 per cent.

We committed to net zero and put in place a technology investment roadmap to guide investment of $22 billion in new energy technologies, working with industry and small businesses to effect real and achievable change. We met and beat our targets without legislating them, without putting more red tape in. We all remember this government last time saying, 'Well, we'll legislate it.' That does nothing—doesn't do anything. We're actually beating our targets. We beat our 2020 target by 459 million tonnes, and we're on track to meet and beat our 2030 target and achieve an up to 35 per cent reduction in emissions. We did this when we were in government, the former Liberal-National government, seeing our emissions reduce by 22 per cent below 2005 levels whilst growing the economy by over 45 per cent in the same period. This means we reduced emissions faster than many of our peers, including Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. The coalition stood for real initiatives that act to make a difference in both our economy and our environment. What the coalition doesn't stand for is policy that is half explained and riddled with hidden details, that blindly proposes to be an effective climate change policy that will not only botch our economy but hurt it at the expense of everyday Australians.

I've outlined our government's record on climate, and I have to be honest that I'll admit that this Albanese government is on track to be a legacy-making government, but with a legacy of the wrong things. It's a legacy of empty words, a legacy of big announcements and a legacy of mistruths. The Albanese Labor government went to the election full of promises, but the Australian people are starting to see what they are truly full of, and it can be summed up in two words, 'broken promises'. These are big words, broken promises, big promises, but the Albanese government has now been exposed as the 'empty words and broken promises' government. But don't just take my word for it. Let's take a moment to outline the delivery of some of their record-making promises in just the first 10 months of their government.

Remember the promise to cut our electricity bill by $275? Broken. Remember the promise of cheaper mortgages? Everyone in the gallery will know your mortgages have doubled, yet Mr Albanese said, 'I will lower mortgages.' That's what he said at the Labor campaign launch in May last year. But he comes into this place every day and says, 'Oh, they started under the previous government.' I think there was one interest rate rise under the previous government; this mob have had nine, and this guy promised to lower mortgages. Remember the promises of no changes to super? 'No changes to super—none,' said Prime Minister Albanese. But then broken, broken. 'We're going to double your tax on super for those people that have $3 million in super.' It's not indexed, so that means that when your kids in 30 or 40 years from now and the figure is still at $3 million, do you know what that will be worth? I won't guess, but I'd say a lot less than what it's worth today. They're increasing the tax on super in law from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. They're not putting it up by five per cent or 10 per cent; they're putting it up by 100 per cent. But Mr Albanese, the Prime Minister, said no changes to super before the last election.

Remember the promise to lower inflation? All these newbies over here probably put up on their Facebook page, 'Inflation's out of control under the member for Cook, Mr Morrison.' But what's happened since? Inflation is up around eight per cent. It's almost doubled as well since they came to office. Remember the promise, 'We're not touching franking credits'? That was broken as well. Remember the promise, 'Industrywide bargaining is not part of our policy'? That was broken as well. Remember the promise, 'We're not raising taxes'? That's broken in this bill, which is why we're not voting for it. Remember the promise to cut the costs of consultants and contractors? Broken.

Who can forget today's example? Yesterday in this House, the Attorney-General made an unhinged and unfounded attack on the Leader of the Opposition about the Nazi protest in Melbourne which, in my opinion, should have been stopped immediately. Yet today, when the Leader of the Opposition moved to amend standing orders to move a motion to outlaw Nazi symbols and the hatred they represent, every Labor member voted against it—every single one of them. That's the absolute hypocrisy of this Labor government, the sheer hypocrisy of the Leader of the House to call this serious motion a stunt, yet when the Leader of the House was the Manager of Opposition Business, as everyone will know, he used to come in here and pull stunts every day of the week. And within half an hour of doing so they would all have tiles up, probably including the member for Cooper and others opposite. Those opposite would all put their tiles up. Well, the Greens should put up tiles on the member for Macnamara, who today voted against having a motion to outlaw the Nazi symbol. If the Greens were smart, they would get their candidate with that up real quick. The Labor government talk of integrity and transparency but have again showed they are hypocrites, and this bill is the very definition of it.

At a time when everyday Aussies are trying to balance their own budgets and when Aussie business owners are working every day to make ends meet, Labor refuse to give clarity about the details of this bill and what it will mean for the people that we represent by releasing modelling requested by the Senate. Well, today, I'm very happy to help Australia out with some clarity on what this bill will mean for everyday Australians, because, quite simply, they deserve to know where their hard-earned money is going. They deserve to know what they are paying for and what this bill really is—in summary, a carbon tax 2.0 that will be passed on to Australians by the businesses that Labor are taxing. Always, always, people will pay more under Labor. Always, when Labor run out of money, they will increase taxes and come after yours. The truth is that this bill will see hardworking Australians once again hit by Labor.

In stark opposition, the coalition government, when we were in power, set out a clear plan to achieve net zero by 2050 without any new taxes, supporting a carbon trading system that rewarded businesses which voluntarily reduced their emissions. But this empty-word broken-promise government will be hiding behind dodgy and bad environmental policy to implement a tax that will pack a punch at a time when taxpayers are already hurting. The problem is, though, that the Australian people don't see this one coming. In fact, I'll call this the king hit of taxes. We won't be supporting this bad policy.

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