Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Small Business—the outstanding Minister for Small Business. Will the minister explain to the House how savings will be passed onto consumers and 14,000 small businesses in my electorate now the world's biggest carbon tax has just been scrapped?

Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is great to get a question from the member for Leichhardt, and what a great treat it was to be with him in his electorate talking to many small businesses, which left us with the very clear message that we needed to axe the carbon tax. And today is that historic day. We have got rid of the carbon tax, and that will be greeted with great joy by the small business community of Australia and in the member for Leichhardt's electorate. They made it clear that this is the action they wanted to see from this government.

It has had an impact on employment; it has made the cost of doing business more expensive than it needs to be. It made a difficult economic climate, created under Labor, that saw 519,000 jobs lost in small business even more difficult than it needed to be, and yet today we have seen this parliament repeal that tax. And it is great news for those small businesses. We have seen the Queensland regulators talk about an eight to 10 per cent reduction in energy costs; we have heard about the 8½ per cent reduction in power costs for the typical household in Queensland. All of this is good news: improved prospects for expenditure for households, reduced costs of doing business for those Queensland entities and households on average $550 better off.

And we are already hearing the small business community celebrate the repeal of the carbon tax, whether it be the independent supermarkets or whether it be the independent fuel retailers. Rick Cairney from Business SA said, 'The tax was introduced two years ago and should never have been introduced as it has achieved nothing but higher power bills and damage to Australia's international competitiveness.' Mark Stone from VECCI, the small business advocates in Victoria, has also welcomed the repeal of the carbon tax. He has pointed out that the carbon tax has adversely impacted on productivity and competitiveness, that the tax has been a burden. It has reduced small business profitability, suppressed employment and added to already difficult trading conditions.

This is a great day for the small businessmen and women of our country—they risk much; many mortgage their houses to have go at creating opportunities and wealth for others—and it is a great day for households and consumers ensuring that those carbon tax repeal savings get passed through. And Rod Sims, the ACCC Chairman, said:

… what went up will clearly come down when you take away the carbon price.

There is a positive legal obligation on electricity, natural gas and synthetic greenhouse gas suppliers to pass on those savings from abolishing the carbon tax.

Consumers will also get an estimate of the savings from network electricity and gas retailers as a result of the abolition of the carbon tax. We know there is greater transparency with estimates being provided by electricity producers and retailers, and natural gas suppliers, to their customers about what that saving should be and then a requirement to substantiate those savings to the ACCC. This is a great day for small business, a great day for consumers and I want to add my thanks not only to the Minister for the Environment but also to the ACCC staff and the Treasury staff who worked very hard to make sure these savings are passed through. It is a great day with the repeal of the carbon tax.