Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the hardworking Minister for the Environment. Will the minister outline the final impact of the carbon tax on Victorian families and businesses, including the savings that have been passed on since the government scrapped this tax. 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 very hardworking member for Higgins. The hardworking member for Higgins did something that her neighbour, the member for Melbourne Ports, did not do. She voted to repeal the carbon tax. He voted to keep the carbon tax. She asked what was the impact of that carbon tax, on the latest figures, for Victorians. We now know from the latest figures of the Clean Energy Regulator that over a two-year period Victorians paid over $3 billion in carbon tax. The largest part of that carbon tax over those two years was $2.7 billion in electricity payments. As a consequence of the repeal, for which the member for Higgins voted, the member for La Trobe voted, the member for Corangamite voted and all of the members on this side voted, those prices have been reduced. We see a 12.4 per cent reduction for Powerdirect customers; for small business customers with Lumo Energy, a 10.7 per cent reduction compared with what it would otherwise have been; and for Simply Energy, a 10 per cent reduction. That is what we see in Victoria. But if the Labor Party were back in power and if the state Labor Party had their way as well, we would see that Lumo Energy customers would have a 10.7 per cent increase in their electricity bills. They are the real things that are occurring.

We might ask ourselves: what other firms paid the price in Victoria? For Murray Goulburn Co-operative, it was $2.6 million for dairy production, for milk; Fonterra, $2.4 million for dairy production—a tax on milk. This is the tax that these people want to bring back. So, if the Leader of the Opposition were to be elected as Prime Minister, he would be bringing back a tax on Murray Goulburn, Fonterra and Tatura Milk. By the way, throw in La Trobe University; they paid almost half a million dollars in additional costs in the last year alone. That brings me to the impact of the carbon tax on Victoria's hospitals and on its public transport. The latest figures we have is that over a two-year period there was $26.7 million from the carbon tax, which they love, on our public hospitals and on our public transport in Victoria. They bleat about the impact of costs. But they want to increase costs on public transport, they want to increase costs on public hospitals and they want to increase costs on milk. At the end of the day, we voted to repeal the carbon tax; they want to bring it back. We are for lower costs.