Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I think they're much more extreme than the last Labor government, with all due respect, Member for Riverina. They're more extreme than the last Labor government. They're more extreme than the Hawke-Keating Labor governments. This is an extreme left-wing Labor government, and I think that this legislation is showing that and proving that. Why am I saying that? Well, let's go through it.

I think the terminology that's been used is quite accurate. Their ideology is making them blind to common sense. Their ideology about what they want to achieve altruistically means that they don't have any regard for what that means on the ground for the men and women of Australia, whether that be families or businesses. They are oblivious to that because every form of legislation that they have is completely fixated on ideology. They say: 'This is what we want to achieve, and we're going to go for that even if that decimates business or makes the cost of living higher. Whatever the cost is, we don't care.' That's what makes this government so dangerous.

They get up every day and talk about the cost of living and say that dealing with the cost of living is the No. 1 topic on their agenda and that they are working every day as a government to deal with the cost of living. This bill alone increases the cost of living, and there are many other examples. In fact it's the case for most of the legislation they move through this place. So they can say what they like. They can say whatever they want in here to try to get a sound bite that they think may resonate on a news clip with the families and the business of Australia. That news clip might be what they think Australians want to hear, and it probably is if it's a grab. But let's look at what they're doing here in practice and what they're doing with this bill in practice. This bill that we are debating right now that was drafted by the Labor Party and that they want to pass is going to increase the cost of living for every Australian—full stop. I don't think you'll hear any of them try to get up and defend it and say that it won't. This is not us saying that; this is independent analysis about what the cost of this bill will do.

It is going to cost over $1 million for any business that does this. I'll repeat that. This was said in Senate estimates this week: it will cost over a million bucks for a business to go through this. Again, we have moved an amendment, but we will be opposing this bill without that. I note other speakers have said this as well. The ASIC chair, Joe Longo, has described the changes as the biggest changes to corporate Australia in over a decade. This is not a minor bill. This is not just something little going through with Labor trying to do the right thing. What they are doing is making a drastic change to the reporting requirements of businesses in Australia that is going to cost the economy billions of dollars. Guess who'll pay those billions of dollars in extra costs? It will be the Australian family and the Australian consumer. Well, thanks for that. The next time you get up and bleat on about the fact that you think that the cost of living is important, have a look at the legislation you are passing every day on the back of this. It is just ideology. They don't have common sense. It's ideology over everything else.

Let's just go through this and talk about it. I know a lot of people in Australia might not necessarily understand what we're talking about. We've talked about scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 emissions. Scope 1 emissions are reasonably easy for a company to determine. It's really just, if you're making something—say, you're a small manufacturer—you measure the emissions that you put out. Most companies do that now and have a fairly good idea about that. Scope 2 emissions are the electricity ones, and most electricity providers have really good systems for measuring the emissions they put out. That's not complicated. But scope 3, which is what this government has in this regulation, is where the problem is. This is where the reporting is going to be difficult. This where the cost is going to be put onto business. This is a higher compliance than in places like the US, New Zealand and the UK. They haven't got it. The US didn't go there. Look at how left-wing Joe Biden and his government are. They haven't done this. They haven't regulated this. But this extreme left-wing government, this exceptionally ideologically driven government, don't care about the increased costs, don't care about the onerous compliance costs, don't care about the cost this is going to put onto small business and don't care about the costs that are going to be transferred to Australian consumers, families and businesses. That's what we're talking about here.

I am going to repeat some figures because it is important that we hear them again. This is a $2.3 billion-a-year compliance cost. This is at a time when cost of living is really difficult. Small businesses are doing it really tough. We know that everyone's electricity bill has gone up. Inflation is very high in Australia, most of it homegrown. This government does not care. If this government cared about the exceptionally high inflation rates that we have in Australia, it wouldn't be throwing on top of us a $2.3 billion-a-year compliance cost to strangle business and which will be passed on to families.

I want to talk about the type of people who are affected by this as well. With scope 3, all the financial institutions will be starting to look. All the activists will be on this. The government is also funding the Environmental Defenders Office to make sure this is done properly. That's just a team of activists—talk about ideologically driven. I don't think they will care if a business is shut down if they don't like what the business does or they don't think that business is doing the right thing. They don't have any compassion for the business or the people who work there. They will be the police of this. This will part of the requirement of this, which will be disastrous as well.

As has been said, this will be a creeping thing. So this will not just affect big business. Big business is obviously the first round of this. If you are over a certain size of turnover and staff you will have this obligatory reporting. Those financial institutions and some of those businesses will be looking down their supply chain for some scope 3 issues. They will be coming to farmers, small manufacturers and a lot of other businesses and saying, 'You need to measure and tell me what emissions you have in your business.' I say to those opposite: you are talking with a forked tongue when you say you care about cost of living when in the same breath you are passing this legislation and other legislation, which we might be talking about later today, which is the same thing.

You were saying you care about cost of living, your words say that, but your actions say something exactly the opposite. Australian families and Australian businesses are going to suffer, because of this legislation and other legislation that you're putting through. Your words do not match your actions. Your words say you care about cost of living, your actions say you do not care about the costs and the extra costs you're putting on Australian families and Australian businesses. They will be worse because of the government you are—the extreme left-wing government you are—and the legislation you keep passing.

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