Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question. Can I say this: rather than rushing to try and use this business decision for political gain, I think it is important that we get the facts clear. The first fact, about which the government is very pleased, is that the company has indicated that the 31 employees will be offered employment elsewhere. It is also important to recall that, as a result of the global recession, published data—I think it is the Cement Industry Federation’s own data—has indicated a drop in demand for cement of some 25 per cent. I think any business operating in that kind of environment obviously has had to manage that fact imposed by the global recession.

The other fact that it is useful to put before those who want to rush to use this is that the CPRS is actually not law, because those opposite voted against it. Under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, clinker production, which is obviously the most emissions-intensive activity in the cement-processing sector, would be eligible for some 94½ per cent of free permits. As a result of other decisions the government has made, the scheme does not commence until 2011. So the context is that the government has put forward a proposition for 94½ per cent of free permits for clinker production and we know that the global recession has imposed a 25 per cent reduction in demand in the cement sector.