John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Bathurst 1000, one of the nation's biggest sporting events—in fact, one of the world's great car races—was held in Calare last week. The annual V8 supercar racing event this year saw nearly 180,000 people pass through the gates over the week and injected over $50 million into the local economy. The great race gives our region a significant boost in both money and tourism, and we are extraordinarily lucky to have such a magnificent event.

This year I again had the pleasure of attending the race courtesy of the Bathurst Regional Council. I would like to thank them not only for their hospitality but also for their work in organising all the off-track events. They really put on a great show in a great background. I would also like to thank the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, for coming to the Bathurst 1000. Mr Abbott had nothing but praise for the event and the way it was held. He was extraordinarily impressed. Mr Abbott and I went up to the top of the mountain where the very serious race goers go. I have never in my life seen the sort of reception he got. The racegoers were lining up to be photographed with the Leader of the Opposition. I am talking about people who are not normally politically involved, but I can assure you they were very politically involved and lined up to shake the hand of the leader of the coalition. We need to understand that those racegoers realised that the carbon tax legislation passed yesterday is going to have an effect on all their lives.

It is a sad day when members feel that they have betrayed their electorates. As I said, the voting on the carbon tax yesterday will be remembered as the day that the Gillard Labor government broke faith with the Australian people. They cheered themselves over a broken promise. I can assure the House that the people who went to the Bathurst 1000 will remember that broken promise.

With the onset of a carbon tax, the staging of an event such as the Bathurst 1000 will increase significantly the costs to Bathurst Regional Council, the race organisers, the participants and the spectators. The cost of fuel, which is a somewhat essential input into the event, will particularly go through the roof. Everyone has to drive to the event—and, by and large, they do. This tax will be a real threat to one of the nation's biggest events. The passing of the ridiculous tax will threaten the livelihood of many in my electorate. Calare is an electorate of producers. We are not bludgers; we do things. We do not shuffle paper. We do not run around in circles. We makes things, we grow things, we mine things and we produce the energy everyone uses. We mine the coal, the iron ore and the gold. We are doers and we are going to suffer because of the tax. The people of regional Australia will be belted under this tax, families and business will be slugged, the cost of living will soar and jobs will be forced offshore. It will severely threaten the industries Calare relies on: mining, power, agriculture, forestry, transport and small business. It was strange to see the Prime Minister unable or unwilling to answer the question yesterday when asked, 'What was the effect on small businesses? There was no recompense for them.' And there is not.

It is a sad week for the people of Calare. Now they do not know where the government stands on immigration either, as they refused to put forward their own bill. In fact, one assumes they are off in caucus wondering how to get themselves out of a position that only Rudd and Gillard put us in. I can assure the people of Calare that I will not let this rest. The coalition—and the National Party—will not let this rest. The next election will be a referendum on Labor's carbon tax, even if it is in retrospect, and political integrity. The coalition will rescind this toxic tax in government and the people of Calare can rest assured about that.