Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and Minister for Industry and Innovation. Will the minister update the House on the forecast for the impact of the carbon price? What has the response been on the forecast, and how is the government helping households?

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Makin for his question. I am asked about forecasts about the impact of carbon pricing. Of course, that renowned forecaster of doom, the Leader of the Opposition, has claimed repeatedly that the cost impact would be 'unimaginable'. He has called it 'a deadly threat' with ramifications that are 'unthinkable'—it is beyond human capacity to think of what the implications could be! What nonsense; what rubbish. He has gone around the country saying all of this when it boils down to a very simple proposition: we are pricing carbon because it is the most economically efficient way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and of Australia playing a fair part in international efforts to tackle climate change, and all he has done is go around spreading rubbish. We know the cost impact. It was carefully modelled by the Treasury. It is 0.7 per cent impact on the CPI—less than 1c in the dollar—and, of course, the government will assist households with an average of $10.10 a week provided to households in assistance.

Now that we are turning from the coalition's fiction into fact about carbon pricing, it is instructive that state Liberal governments handing down their budgets are also providing forecasts of the impact of carbon pricing. The Victorian government's budget last month forecast that the carbon price will increase the CPI by 0.5 per cent in 2012-13; the Western Australian Barnett Liberal government in its budget said that it would be 0.7 per cent, which is bang on the Treasury forecasting; in the New South Wales budget—guess what?—it is entirely consistent with the Treasury modelling of 0.7 per cent impact on the CPI.

So here we have state coalition governments and state Liberal premiers completely repudiating the rubbish and nonsense that the opposition leader has spread around this country, just as the backbenchers ignored his warnings about the doom and gloom and the death of the coal industry and instead snapped up the investments. That is what they were doing while he was forecasting the death of the industry. Just as that was happening, state Liberal premiers are also abandoning all of the rubbish that has been spread. He is trying to run away from all these things. We can see the new campaign emerging—it is putting fear into people about 2050. It is all rubbish, and, at the end of the day, you will have no credibility left whatsoever.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Minister, you spoke about the importance of accurate information in this debate. Why is that particularly important in the light of recent claims about job losses?

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Makin once again. We have heard all about the deceit, and there will be plenty more of it to be revealed as the carbon price is implemented from 1 July. But perhaps the most reprehensible part of this deceitful campaign has been the opposition leader's attempts to exploit the anxiety of working people by threatening them about their jobs. Yesterday the opposition was at it yet again—Senator Brandis in particular. Up in the Senate, he directly attributed the loss of 1,900 jobs in Fairfax Media to the introduction of a carbon price in a totally deceitful, dishonest and completely untrue statement that he has still not withdrawn.

It is a complete disgrace, because everyone knows—and certainly all of the staff at Fairfax know very well—that digital technology is putting massive pressure on print media. The carbon price has absolutely nothing to do with the changes at Fairfax, just as the carbon price had nothing to do with the decision of Norsk Hydro to close the aluminium smelter at Kurri Kurri. It was not related to that issue, just as it has had nothing to do with the loss of jobs at Qantas or anywhere else. These people opposite relish the news of job losses so that they can blame them on the carbon price, and it is a disgrace.

Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. I refer the Acting Prime Minister to reports that the former CEO of the government's Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute was paid in excess of $500,000 a year, that members flew first class worldwide and that $54 million was spent on operational expenses in the first two years. Why is the government squeezing Australians with the world's biggest carbon tax when it is wasting money allocating $100 million a year to an institute which itself has admitted that this is too much to spend responsibly?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, because the government does not apologise for its commitment to carbon capture and storage technology—not one bit—and I believe that some of the reportage of the institute has been exaggerated. The fact is that the development of carbon capture and storage technology is one that is going to be difficult, but it is one that we must absolutely do. It takes an enormous amount of research, it takes an enormous number of partners around the world to put together the right combination of people to get the outcomes that we deserve. So this institute, I believe, has done good work.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we are seeing here yet again is the fact that the climate change sceptics opposite do not even accept the basic science of climate change. Therefore they cannot come to the table to have a sensible discussion about what we must do not only in terms of putting a price on carbon but also driving the essential technological development that we need for the decades ahead. Carbon capture and storage is an area where, as one of the largest coal exporters in the world, we do need to make some very substantial progress. As an economy we produce a lot of coal and we export a lot of coal. We have a very big interest in developing carbon capture and storage technology. That is precisely what the institute is doing. It is not something that those on the other side of the House understand or appreciate, but from our point of view we will not be deterred from meeting the challenges of dangerous climate change and supporting our very important coal industry.

Mr Hockey interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, the member for North Sydney should observe the standing orders!