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. I refer the Prime Minister to the fact that Amcor, Penrice and now CSR have cited—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! If the minister and the shadow minister would like to continue their debate, I can accommodate that outside the chamber.

Mr Hockey interjecting—

The member for North Sydney! The member for Flinders has the call, he will be heard in silence and his question will commence again.

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. I refer the Prime Minister to the fact that Amcor, Penrice and now CSR have cited the effect of the carbon tax on electricity prices as one of the primary reasons behind job losses in their own manufacturing firms. Why has the Prime Minister made it harder for manufacturing workers in Australia to keep their jobs? Will the Prime Minister apologise to workers who have lost their jobs, including at the Amcor plant in her own electorate?

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

First, the member should acknowledge that over 130,000 jobs have been added to the economy since the introduction of the carbon price, in complete contrast to the negative, false fear campaign run by those opposite, who tried to scare Australian workers and pretend that, as a result of carbon pricing, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost—every claim shown to be incorrect.

And yet, despite every claim shown to be incorrect—their claims about jobs, their claims about the mining industry, their claims about cost of living, their claims about Whyalla being wiped off the map—they continue the fear campaign, rub their hands whenever there is any bad news about any worker losing his or her job and desperately try to do anything they can to blame it on carbon pricing, irrespective of the facts. What the member should well acknowledge is—

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

Speaker, I rise on a point of order: 'directly relevant' means it must have a relationship to the substance of the question, which was the loss of jobs in the Prime Minister's own seat. Is she saying she does not care about those people in her own seat who have lost their jobs?

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Mackellar will resume her seat. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

Thank you very much. After that offensive interjection, let me assure the parliament that I care about it very deeply, and I respect these workers enough to believe that they should be told the truth and not used as pawns in the opposition's ugly political game, the way they have used workers as pawns against carbon pricing.

We have had the Leader of the Opposition go to workplaces and raise fear amongst working people that they were going to lose their jobs, only to see some of those businesses grow, thrive, prosper and expand since the Leader of the Opposition has been there. That is treating people with contempt. That is treating people with disrespect. That is the conduct of the opposition.

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! As the member for Mackellar has raised a question on a point of relevance, does the member for Mackellar have another point of order?

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

Yes, indeed, Speaker. It is this: the standing orders and indeed the Practice are quite clear that when a minister cannot answer a question they should be asked to sit down and take it on notice. As you cannot answer the question—

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume her seat—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop interjecting—

Order! The member for Mackellar will leave the chamber under standing order 94(a).

The member for Mackellar then left the chamber.

The Prime Minister has the call and will refer to the question before the chair.

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

After that display of contempt for working people, in answer to the member's question he well knows that the businesses he refers to have on their shoulders the pressure of the high Australian dollar and some of the economic circumstances that have flowed since the global financial crisis. Our attitude is to work with manufacturing and to work with businesses to help them and to help employment. The attitude of the opposition is to cut that assistance and to end those jobs—hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them around the country. That is what the member stands for. On this side of the House we stand for jobs and jobs have been created—130,000 of them—since a price was put on carbon.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the

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 Blair for his question. I know he has a keen interest in the meat industry. The fact of the matter is that nine months into carbon pricing the meat industry is one where you can look quite clearly at how the carbon price is working to help transform the economy. In the industry it is reducing carbon pollution and driving investments that improve the industry's competitiveness.

Those opposite made many dire, terrible, doom-and-gloom predictions about the future of the meat industry as we went towards 1 July last year, with its introduction. It will be recalled that Senator Joyce predicted a $100 lamb roast and that a single head of beef going into an abattoir would cost the abattoir $575,000. That is the nature of the absolutely ludicrous claims that were made, joined in by the Leader of the Opposition. The member for Wright raised the case of AJ Bush and Sons and their Bromelton plant in Queensland, in particular. He said that that particular meat facility would face an 'absolute walloping' from the carbon price. He visited the abattoir with Senator Joyce and prophesised all the terrible doom and gloom about never being able to afford another T-bone.

But now that we are nine months into carbon pricing, what has actually happened at the Bromelton plant is quite interesting because, with government support, the company is capturing its methane emissions, cutting its electricity bills and also cutting its emissions. It is doing it through an investment in a biogas facility and more energy efficient boilers. Recently, in the Beaudesert Times, AJ Bush's manager, David Kassulke, previously a critic of carbon pricing, said that these investments will cut their emissions by more than half and allow the company to produce half of the plant's electricity requirements. He said that as a consequence the abattoir 'will ultimately be in a much more competitive position in the marketplace as a direct result' of carbon pricing—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Flinders!

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

This is exactly what he said:

What the imposition of the carbon tax has done is make industry take stock of what it is currently doing and has forced it to look at doing things in a better way. It means companies are now looking at ways to use less energy which equates to less cost … That has been the intention of the tax and clearly from that perspective it is working and working well.

That is a quote from the head of AJ Bush at the Bromelton facility in Queensland. They are supportive of how the carbon tax is working. It is working and working well, cutting their electricity bill in half and reducing their emissions by a half. The only walloping at AJ Bush has been to the credibility of the member for Wright, Senator Joyce and the Leader of the Opposition for all of the ridiculous and bizarre claims that they will be held to account for. (Time expired)

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. I refer to the minister's answer and I ask him if there are other examples of where the facts have been distorted on carbon pricing and climate change.

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 Blair once more, because, sadly, there has been a litany of bizarre and ridiculous claims made by the Leader of the Opposition and other members of the coalition. First and foremost amongst them, of course, is the claim by the Leader of the Opposition that hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost as a consequence of the carbon price coming in. But what do the labour force figures tell us? More than 130,000 jobs have been created in our economy since carbon pricing began. They said there would be unimaginable price increases—absolutely unimaginable prices increases, the Leader of the Opposition claimed. Inflation is under control; interest rates have come down by 500 basis points. How can you account for these claims—a senior political figure in this country making these ridiculous claims?

How about the coal industry? There is still a very strong pipeline of investment coming into coal. It is extremely important in my region in the Hunter. But, of course, the Leader of the Opposition claimed that it will be the end of the coal industry, that it would be completely destroyed. It would be absolute Armageddon. And do not forget towns being wiped off the map. Employment is up in Whyalla. Remember that he claimed Olympic Dam investment was deferred because of carbon pricing, and then confessed on the 7.30 program that he had never read the company update, which did not mention carbon pricing. This is absurd from a senior political figure. He misrepresented electricity bills in this parliament—absolutely ludicrous from the coalition. (Time expired)

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

Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper.