Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the . What are the drivers of electricity prices and how does the carbon price rate amongst them? What is the government's approach to helping families deal with this and how does this differ from other approaches?

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 Moreton for the question. When the government announced the carbon price package last year, we were upfront about the modest impact of the carbon price on electricity prices—$3.30 a week for the average household, an average increase of up to 10 per cent. We were upfront about it. It is a modest impost compared with the massive increases in electricity prices around Australia in recent years. They are increases that have nothing to do with carbon pricing; they are mainly driven by investments in poles and wires. They are increases from which the state governments are reaping dividends. These are the figures. In New South Wales in the last three years, power has gone up by 55 per cent; in Victoria, 37 per cent; in Queensland, 39 per cent; in South Australia, 43 per cent; and in Western Australia, under the Barnett government, a whopping 57 per cent, or $552 a household. As prices have skyrocketed in New South Wales, the O'Farrell government has been happily accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from households when they pay their electricity bills. Last year the O'Farrell government took in $640 million in dividends, and it is forecasting over a billion dollars in dividends paid by householders through their electricity bills for next year.

All of that has happened without as much as a bo-peep from the Leader of the Opposition. All that has gone on, with not a word from the Leader of the Opposition—a 55 per cent increase in power bills in his home state of New South Wales and a billion dollars taken in dividends next year. That is all fine, not worth a word. But a much smaller increase which is offset by an average of $10.10 a week in cash assistance to households that comes from carbon pricing is unimaginable! It is beyond human conception, that increase of 10 per cent! It is the wrecking ball! It is the death of industries! It is the cobra strike! It is the python squeeze! It is the end of the world—a 10 per cent increase, $3.30 a household, matched by $10.10 a week in assistance. But a 55 per cent increase in New South Wales and billions ripped off New South Wales householders by the O'Farrell government is just like cuddling a teddy bear! That is nothing! That is not worth a word from the Leader of the Opposition, who has nothing to say about the rest of the price rises around this country. This is the only government that is helping people with rising electricity prices. From today the schoolkids bonus starts being paid, and it makes a difference. (Time expired)

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. You mentioned rising electricity prices, Minister Combet. How is the government assisting the people of my electorate with the modest impact of the carbon price on electricity prices?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The Minister for Climate and Energy Efficiency has the call and will be heard in silence.

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 Moreton for the supplementary question. As I said earlier, when the government announced the carbon price package last year we were upfront about the modest impact of the carbon price—a $3.30 a week impact for the average household, matched by $10.10 a week on average in cash assistance for households. In the electorate of Moreton, what that translates into is that 55,000 taxpayers will receive a tax cut. The tax cuts start from 1 July, and 55,000 taxpayers receive a tax cut. Out of those, 45,000 will receive a tax cut of at least $300 a year. More than 17,200 pensioners and 1,900 self-funded retirees in Moreton will receive an extra $338 a year if they are single and an extra $510 a year for couples combined. On top of that, more than 2,700 students will get up to an extra $177 a year. In addition, in the budget, of course, a supplementary allowance was provided for to assist young people, the unemployed and many others with utilities bills, and from today, as I remarked earlier, the schoolkids bonus of $410 for a primary student and $820 for a high school student starts being rolled out. (Time expired)

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. I refer the Acting Prime Minister to Brisbane City Council's statement that the world's biggest carbon tax will add 1.9 per cent to every resident's rates, or more than double the figure he told the House yesterday that councils should need to raise their rates by. How does the Acting Prime Minister reconcile that with this letter from the Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation to Brisbane councillors claiming that they were exaggerating the impact of the carbon tax?

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

I think there is a very clear explanation for this, because this is just another cash grab by the Liberal Party in Brisbane. That is what it is, and I think the Brisbane City Council are going to have a lot of trouble demonstrating the claims that they are making. For example, $11 million is claimed to cover a rise in inflation of 0.7 per cent, but that is based on the average price increase for households, and councils will be subjected to smaller price increases—and the list goes on.

The fact is that those opposite are going to come into this House every day and exaggerate the impact of the carbon price because they do not have any policies in particular; they just have this reckless negativity of the Leader of the Opposition. But, of course, as we get closer to 1 July he starts to run away from his previous positions. First of all the price rises were going to be absolutely through the roof. Then Whyalla was going to be destroyed. Then whole industries were going to go down the gurgler. They are clearly not, because what we have here is not a Leader of the Opposition; we have a snake oil salesman who is slithering around the country peddling his falsehoods because he does not have any policies and he is trying to cover up the fact that he wants to rip out the tax cuts that are coming in on 1 July and to get rid of the tripling of the tax-free threshold. He has also said—

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. While snake oil salesmen are relevant to the Acting Prime Minister, they are not relevant to—

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

The member for Ryan will resume her seat. If she had stopped at 'directly relevant', she would have been appropriate. The Acting Prime Minister has the call and will return to the question before the chair.

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

The fact is that what we have here is a political strategy They do not care what damage they cause to confidence or to the views of Australians about the importance of dealing with dangerous climate change. They will say anything and do anything to justify their political position, which is rapidly declining, because as we get to 1 July he is going to be running away from all of the extreme claims that he has made. He will be simply a hollow man in a cul-de-sac without any policies at all, because then he is going to have to explain to the Australian people what he is going to do about a tripling of the tax-free threshold and what he is going to do about the increase in the family payments. He has already indicated today that he is going to knock off the schoolkids bonus. We had that also—

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

The Acting Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Mackellar on a point of order other than relevance.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I wanted to point out that to maintain the link is for direct relevance and there is no maintenance through his answer. I would refer you to page 553 of the Practice.

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

I thank the member for Mackellar. The Acting Prime Minister has the call and will return to the question.

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

On this side of the House we have put in place a long-term economic reform which will enable our economy to prosper in the 21st century, which will drive investment in energy efficiency and in renewable energy. Prosperous economies in the 21st century will be those that are energy efficient and are more driven by renewable energy. That is our motivation for our long-term prosperity. The motivation of those opposite is simply politics, not national interest but political self-interest.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. What will be the impact of the carbon price on transport infrastructure in regional communities such as Whyalla in my state, especially in aviation? How does this compare with some of the impacts that have been forecast?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for his question and for his honesty when it comes to the reality of dealing with climate change and meeting the challenge of putting a price on carbon. We saw just a couple of weeks ago the Leader of the Opposition once again talking down a business in the regional aviation industry, preaching doom and gloom and disaster when it came to the impact of the carbon price. He has got some form on this.

I am asked specifically about Whyalla. On 27 April last year the Leader of the Opposition said:

Whyalla will be wiped off the map …

He went on to say:

… Whyalla risks becoming a ghost town, an economic wasteland if this carbon tax goes ahead

It was like a scene from Mad Max. Special Minister of State, Gary Gray, will be over in Whyalla. He is a Whyalla local. He will be going to visit his mum on 30 June to check that everything is still okay when 1 July comes through.

For a place to become a ghost town, people have to leave it. One of the ways you leave a town is on a plane. So, as transport minister, I thought I would check on what has been going on in Whyalla. I found an article in the Whyalla News dated 4 June. The mayor of Whyalla Jim Pollock said, 'We are processing something like 75,000 passengers a year.' So I asked my department how do the numbers compare? And I found out there were 68,000 in 2011 and 64,000 in 2010. The year before there were 62,000. It is growing!

The opposition might say that is all the people leaving town, but I checked. As many people are going into Whyalla as are leaving Whyalla. I checked also on what the local region was saying about Whyalla airport. They are making representations to the minister for regional development to expand the airport. They want a new terminal. They want to fix the runway. There they are out in Whyalla promoting the growth of a town that the Leader of the Opposition said would be wiped off the map. But now we see he is running from his over-the-top comments faster than he ran from the parliament. He could not get out of the parliament. He was beaten by the gazelle over there.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. How can the minister be relevant to the question without mentioning that Wayne Hanson from the Australian Workers Union said Whyalla would be a ghost town.

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

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport has the call and will return to the question.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is quick, but the Leader of the Opposition will have to run a bit faster from his comments because he says businesses will be shut down, he says towns will be shut down but on 1 July we will see the reality.