Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Will the minister update the House on the impact of carbon pricing across the economy, including on major sporting and cultural events? How accurate have predictions of these impacts been?

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 Wills for his questions. As a Victorian he knows there is an important carnival going on over the weekend and into next week in Victoria.

Carbon pricing has been in place now for four months and the economy is growing, inflation is contained, interest rates have come down, investment is growing—the economy is strong. That is the reality of carbon pricing in our economy: the economy is continuing to grow. It is a very different picture indeed to the nightmare that was presented over the last 18 months by the Leader of the Opposition. We all know he predicted that whole towns were going to disappear, industries were going to be ruined, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be destroyed and the weekly shopping trip would bankrupt families.

I am asked about the impact on major events in particular. The Leader of the Opposition has also claimed that the whole Australian way of life is under threat from carbon pricing. But major events, like the Spring Racing Carnival, which are surely cornerstones of our way of life, are underway, and I want to reassure racing fans that there is no cause for alarm. Carbon pricing will not stop the Victoria Derby on Saturday and it will not stop the Melbourne Cup next Tuesday. The carnival is going to go well.

Treasury modelling showed the carbon price impact on sport and recreation will only be 0.3 per cent, or around 20c a week. Fashion at Flemington is going to be okay because last week's CPI figures showed the price of women's clothing actually fell by 0.2 per cent in the September quarter! What people with an interest in the racing industry need to know is that the Leader of the Opposition's scare campaign has been the biggest shakedown since the Fine Cotton affair in 1984! The ring-in that day, for those who can remember, was called Bold Personality. That is all we have had from the Leader of the Opposition. The rest of it is all rubbish, a complete shakedown, and frankly it is time that the Liberal Party stewards started to intervene here and had a look at a bit of change.

What about the member for Wentworth? A classy thoroughbred if ever there was one! He was badly checked by the member for Warringah in the 2009 race. The member for North Sydney is hungry for a win, but he has demonstrated yet again today that he is not up to group 1 racing level—he is out of the chamber. Then there is the member for Curtin: three times runner-up—surely a chance this time! The member for Cook is a promising weight-for-ager, I reckon, but spooked by foreign horses every time! Or the member for Mackellar, a favourite in 1994, and what a stayer—she's still here! (Time expired)

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister disagree with this analysis from Woolworths, presented to the Energy Users Association of Australia conference last week, which clearly shows that the carbon tax will increase their electricity costs—

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

Order! The member for Flinders will disuse the prop.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

costing them tens of millions of dollars?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and I do thank him for clearly engaging in a bit of choreography with the minister for climate change for the amusement of the House. On the quick look I had at that graph when it was held up, what it is showing is that the biggest bars of cost are things like the network charges. So I thank the member for holding up a chart that proves the government's case about electricity.

We have had the Leader of the Opposition, as part of his mendacious claim, out there saying that any dollar increase in electricity is about the carbon price, and for a long period of time he was absolutely denying that there was any other factor. Finally, he was shamed into admitting that yes, there are other things going on with electricity; and yes, there were things like 40, 50, 60, 70 per cent increases before carbon pricing even came into effect; and yes, a big factor in those increases is the so-called gold-plating of the network, shown I think by the blue bars on that chart there.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The question was: does the Prime Minister accept a 14 per cent increase in electricity costs for Woolworths, on their own evidence?

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

The member for Flinders will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am talking about electricity pricing and its impact on businesses, and I am thanking the member for holding up a chart that I think, from the quick look I had at it, clearly shows that carbon pricing is the least of the effects on electricity—the least of the effects.

On impacts for businesses like Woolworths, they have actually been on the public record about carbon pricing, and they are not joining hands with the opposition in this reckless campaign of fear. So, when it comes to the Woolworths business, I suggest people listen to the people who run it rather than the opposition.

Then, of course, the thing that the member did not raise, and that members opposite do not like to raise, is that as part of carbon pricing we have provided tax cuts and family payment increases and pension increases, building on our other cost-of-living measures for families, all of which would be removed by those opposite—tax cuts gone, pension increases gone, family payment increases gone, Schoolkids Bonus gone and the list goes on.

So, after the expose that there has been of this litany of falsehoods from the opposition, it is time for members who can actually think in terms of policy to start disassociating themselves with this reckless and stupid campaign.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table the Woolworths presentation to the Energy Users Association of Australia Conference from last week.

Leave not granted.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

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

The member for Eden-Monaro is warned!