Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment. Will the minister inform the House of the savings that have been passed onto families and businesses in Western Australia since the government scrapped the world's biggest carbon tax? Minister, are there any threats to these savings?

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

I want to thank the member for Swan who is a great champion of the environment. Along with the member for Hasluck, he was the co-architect of the Swan-Canning River Recovery Plan—a million dollar plan—part of the coastal rivers recovery plan with the Tamar River, the Torrens River, the Yarra River and Tuggerah Lakes; real things to do to clean up our environment.

But the member for Swan is not just a champion of the environment; he is also a champion of lower costs for families. The member for Swan voted to repeal the carbon tax; unlike his neighbour, the member for Perth, who voted to keep the carbon tax. The member for Swan voted for lower electricity prices; unlike the member for Perth who voted for higher electricity prices.

More than that, the member for Swan voted for a saving of $319 million in electricity prices for Western Australians. He voted for a saving for Western Australian families on an average of 50 gigajoules of $80 a year; unlike the member Perth who, when she stops speaking, voted for higher gas prices and higher electricity prices.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

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

The member for Perth will desist!

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

It is hard, isn't it? A three-second silence and she has gone troppo. The member for Swan voted for lower rates in Western Australia; the member Perth voted for higher rates. And, most recently, in the last few days the member for Swan voted for lower public transport costs, and just last week we saw Transperth announce fares would be reduced from November 1 following the repeal of the carbon tax.

But there are other plans: let me look at what the The Sydney Morning Herald said just over a week ago in an article by Mark Kenny. The headline said: 'Carbon price on Bill Shorten's agenda':

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has raised the prospect of reviving one of Labor's most politically damaging policy areas—a carbon price …

He will not call it a carbon tax, but the answer is very simple: if it looks like a carbon tax, if it hurts like a carbon tax and if it raises electricity prices like a carbon tax, it is a carbon tax. You know what? He will not call it a carbon tax between now and the election, but we know what it is. You know what it is, and the Australian people know that you want to bring it back. We are for lower electricity prices; you are for higher electricity prices, and that is all that matters.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

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

The member for Perth has been warned and will remove herself under 94(a).

The member for Perth then left the chamber.