Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was interesting to hear the member for Kingston talk about all the money that has been spent in her electorate, obviously coming up to the next election. But the government must remember that every bit of money they spend they have to take off someone else—they have to take it off taxpayers, ratepayers or somebody else. That is what I want to speak about today.

The federal government has sent a carbon tax warning letter to two councils in my electorate of Swan, the Town of Victoria Park and the City of Canning, warning them of a substantial hit from the carbon tax. The Victoria Park and Canning councils are the only two inner metropolitan councils in Perth that have been targeted by the Gillard government and sent these letters, and the residents in my electorate will be very concerned about the potential impacts on their services and rates.

It is a ridiculous situation where some councils have, and some have not, been singled out as liable to pay the carbon tax as 'polluters'. It is, quite frankly, disgraceful that two councils and ratepayers in my electorate have been singled out to pay this tax. In addition, councils will pay, directly or indirectly, carbon tax on the landfill operations they run or use. As tip charges go up and up, the risk of illegal dumping will increase. It staggers belief that the Town of Victoria Park and the City of Canning will be whacked for collecting and disposing of household rubbish. Collecting household rubbish is a core responsibility of local government, and under the carbon tax councils will be slugged for collecting rubbish.

With only weeks to go until the start of the carbon tax, it is clear the carbon tax is going to hit these councils' budgets, just as it will hit household budgets. And, with only weeks to go, the federal government still cannot provide councils with clear guidance about the exact costs of the tax to council budgets. The government's carbon tax policeman is warning Victoria Park and Canning to brace themselves for increased costs but cannot tell them how much those costs will be. With just weeks to go before it is implemented, this is a shambles. Local residents will be paying the carbon tax on their rates—just as they will be paying carbon tax on electricity and the necessities of life. By increasing council costs, the carbon tax costs will mean either increases in council rates and charges, or cuts to services. These impacts are just the start, as the carbon tax is legislated to go up and up. The Australian Local Government Association estimates that the cost of the carbon tax—excluding landfill operations—will be a minimum of $185 million nationally. It seems remarkable that local councils around Australia could account for around 20 per cent of those entities directly liable to pay Labor's carbon tax.

In addition to the Town of Victoria Park and the City of Canning, I fear that another council in my electorate is in line to be hit especially hard by the carbon tax: the City of Belmont. The City of Belmont is a member of the six-council EMRC. On 26 March 2012 I visited the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, or EMRC, Red Hill Waste Management Facility with the member for Hasluck. I heard the member for Hasluck talking about this in this chamber this morning during his response on the appropriation legislation. When we visited this place we were impressed by the work they are doing, the efficiency and the way they are utilising the methane gas escaping—they are using it to generate power. It was a super-impressive effort by the six councils to reduce emissions and also to increase their efficiency in terms of waste.

The member councils of the EMRC—which includes Belmont and the part of Kalamunda in my electorate, and the City of Swan and the part of Kalamunda in the member for Hasluck's electorate—have grouped together to make their waste management more efficient. Their Red Hill facility saves ratepayers money and cuts carbon emissions. However, the Gillard government's carbon tax is going to punish them for this, because the entity is large enough to qualify for the carbon tax. The only reason the EMRC is the size it is is that six councils pulled together to save costs and reduce emissions, and now they and the ratepayers will be slugged by the carbon tax for doing the right thing. This is ridiculous and shows the perverse impact this tax is going to have. Ultimately it is the Belmont and Kalamunda ratepayers who are going to have to stump up for this, which is absolutely disgraceful.

There is a clear difference between the coalition and Labor on this issue: Labor has no mandate for the carbon tax and the coalition will seek a mandate to scrap the carbon tax. The people in my electorate of Swan all remember Prime Minister Gillard stating, five days before the last election, that there would be no carbon tax under a government she leads. I will continue to remind them of this broken promise until the next election. The carbon tax is targeting councils in my electorate of Swan. Shame on the government for this. Should the coalition be elected at the next election, we would rescind the carbon tax as our first order of business. It does not work. It does not even cut emissions, the supposed primary objective of a carbon tax.