Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry. I refer the minister to this article in today's Courier Mail titled 'Queensland households to cop shock $270 power bill whack'. Will the minister outline to the House what impact various policies, including the carbon tax, will have on this surge in power prices facing the Queensland people in the electorate of Wright?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wright for his question and congratulate him on what a fantastic job he does. He is my neighbour, so I guess I am a bit biased, but the member for Wright does a fantastic job in his electorate. Not only did he have a very difficult start in that electorate because of the floods, but he has gone on to make sure that he is there for every issue that the people in his community face.

The issue that his community is facing at the moment is a cost-of-living pressure coming from the carbon tax. We did not need this report in the Courier Mail today to know that electricity prices are going up because of the carbon tax. But this report today in the Courier Mail highlights the fact that Queenslanders can expect an increase in their power bills of $270 per annum.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If ever there was an example of this government being out of touch!

Mr Christensen interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Watson! The member for Dawson will desist.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not mind taking that interjection, because if anyone is out of touch it is those who sit on the other side. How out of touch can you be when families are facing power increases and the Queensland Competition Authority says that without the carbon tax the increase will be more than halved?

How out of touch can you be when faced with those statistics that you continue to support a tax on households, when the people of Australia have given those on this side of the chamber a mandate to remove the tax? That side is so far out of touch that they do not know the pain that families are going through at the moment in relation to increased electricity prices.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Moreton is warned!

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The figures released today by the Competition Authority show that removing the carbon tax would cut the increase in Tariff 11 prices, from 13.6 per cent to 5.4 per cent. That is more than half—halving the increase is something that is important to every Queenslander. Of course, it does not just relate to Queenslanders; it relates to every household and every business in Australia. Every household and every business in Australia is being choked by this carbon tax. We want to start 2014 with some momentum in business. We want to start the year with some confidence. We need to get rid of this carbon tax. We need to make sure that households can see an end to the tyranny that the Labor Party imposed upon them through higher taxes, higher carbon taxes and higher electricity prices. The people who sit opposite are committing Queenslanders and all Australians to higher electricity prices.