Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, whose alias is 'the rumour buster'. Will the minister update the House on the impacts of the carbon tax on Australian agriculture? What action has the government taken to address these impacts and boost our international competitiveness?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

I call the Minister for Agriculture, and we will have some silence to hear the answer.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and it is good to see the polite nature in which you keep this chamber.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton is flying close to the wind.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for his question. There were two parts to the question. The second part was about international competitiveness. It is quite simple: you have either cheap power or cheap wages. We are the party and coalition of cheap power and those on the other side are the party of the alternative strategy, which is not actually cheap wages but unemployment.

The first part of the question is about how the carbon tax relates to you through the day. If you wake up in the morning nice and early before the sun rises, as you do in the country, you turn on the light and you pay the carbon tax. When you go out to the kitchen and put on the kettle and get yourself ready, you are paying the carbon tax. When you turn on the shower and the pump turns on, you are paying the carbon tax. When you turn on the welder when you go out to work, you are paying the carbon tax. When you turn on the tractor, you are paying the carbon tax. When you go to the pie shop for a smoko, you pay the carbon tax. You might get something else as well—maybe an insult from the Leader of the Opposition. If you are planting a crop, you pay the carbon tax. If you are putting cattle on a truck—

Mr Shorten interjecting—

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

The Leader of the Opposition will desist.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

when those opposite are in power, you are going to pay 6.85c a litre more. You are going to pay the carbon tax. If you send off those cattle to an abattoir— and I know you have 400 employees up there at a Teys abattoir in Biloela—you pay the carbon tax. It does no matter where you go, with this crowd opposite you will pay the carbon tax.

But I think there might be a glimmer of hope on the horizon because I have been listening to some others. I found out from an article by Rob Burgess that Mr Shorten is quite capable of a policy backflip. That was said by one of his colleagues. I thought that could not be right because a man of his integrity would never backflip! But I found out that back on 30 October 2013 he said that he would stand firm in his support for a price on carbon but told Jonathan Swan on 1 November that he would terminate the carbon tax. How could a person go from standing firm beside you to terminating you? What sort of character would stand behind you and then terminate you? That is a good question for the member for Fraser, who did stand beside Kevin Rudd but then terminated him. It is also a good question for the member for Sydney, who stood beside Julia Gillard but then terminated her as well.

Luckily Labor's Mark Butler has revealed that the party would look to build an alternative strategy. What is that alternative strategy? Is that alternative strategy the member for Sydney coming forward? Is that the alternative strategy? (Time expired)