Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment. I refer to claims by the previous government that only 500 companies are paying the carbon tax. Minister, how many businesses are actually being hit by the carbon tax, what is its impact and how will scrapping it help all Australians?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note that the member for Petrie is right to be concerned about the impact of the carbon tax on the competitiveness of his warehouses, on his small manufacturing firms and on his construction firms, and there is a reason why. Members of the House will remember that throughout the term of the last government various members of the ALP said that the carbon tax was only ever going to touch 500 firms. The claim was not just made by the former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. It was not just made by the former climate change minister, Greg Combet. It was not just made by the former Treasurer, the member for Lilley. It was also made by, amongst others, the now Leader of the Opposition: 500 firms only. So we asked Treasury to do a little bit of analysis for us. Do you know what they found? They found that it was not 500 companies, it was not 5,000 companies, it was not 50,000 companies. It was 75,000 companies that are directly hit by the carbon tax in terms of the fuel tax credit. Seventy-five thousand: just a small, little error! Just a 150-fold error of calculation—nothing compared with the budget difficulties which the Treasurer has to face that he inherited from the other side, but 75,000 firms.

What are these firms that are being hit? Think for a moment. Aviation: Qantas, $106 million in carbon tax; Virgin, $48 million; Rex Airlines, which described the carbon tax as 'disastrous'; Brindabella, which has gone into receivership. Domestic shipping and ferries; rail transport, whichever state you are in; mining; construction; small manufacturing firms; small warehousing businesses; and anybody using off-road diesel generators have been hit. So that is the reality of the carbon tax. Not 500, not 5,000, not 50,000 but, according to Treasury, 75,000 firms directly hit.

It gets worse than this, however, Prime Minister, because the opposition's policy is to extend the carbon tax on fuel to trucks and buses. That is still their policy. It would be great to know whether or not you are going to change that policy. But there is a better way than this, members of this House, and that is that in the coming weeks the carbon tax is before the Senate and the Leader of the Opposition can choose to provide relief not just to 75,000 firms but to 10 million Australian households who are paying higher electricity, gas and grocery prices. Now is the moment to take your senators back to work and get out of the way of lower electricity, gas and fuel prices.