Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Do you know what it is going to do, Senator Marshall? Senator Forshaw, you are over there as well. I would suggest that the people of New South Wales should contact all their Labor senators right now and tell them what they think about this ETS. What they are telling us is that they do not want a bar of it. What is it going to do? All of these costs, colleagues, are going to land right in the laps of our working families—that is, the working families that this Labor government purports to represent—right across this country. As my good colleague Senator Boswell said, the government have completely forgotten about them. They have completely forgotten about those blue-collar workers. They have just disregarded them because all of those costs are inescapable. They are inescapable in this ETS, and they know it.

What is absolutely gobsmacking is that this can even be called ‘action on climate change’, because it is not going to change the climate one bit. That is what is so absolutely extraordinary about this. We have this Labor government going hurling down the path of trying to ram this through. That is why we are standing here now: they are trying to ram this legislation through. They are trying to ram this through, completely disregarding those people. The people that I am particularly concerned about and the people that my Nationals colleagues and many of my Liberal colleagues as well are concerned about are those people in regional Australia, who have been completely disregarded. Let us have a look at what this is going to do to farmers. As my colleague Senator Joyce said the other day, isn’t it peculiar that people are jumping up and down saying, ‘Isn’t it fantastic that we’ve had agriculture excluded?’ It was never in, and it was never likely to be in. We know, because the department already told us, that they had absolutely no ability to measure the emissions from the animals anyway. So we have had this great win—supposedly—but it was never going to be in the scheme at all.

And guess what else will happen, Senator Forshaw? Start writing to Senator Forshaw, all you people out in rural New South Wales, and to every single one of those Labor senators. Guess what will happen? All the embedded costs that are in the ETS now will land right in the laps of our farmers in our regions: fuel, transport, electricity, fertiliser, chemicals, packaging, cement—absolutely everything. How can those on the other side say, ‘Agriculture has been excluded; isn’t that great!’ when they were never going to do it and all of those costs are still there?

Our farmers are at the bottom of the food chain. As my colleagues over here know and have said on many occasions, there is nowhere to pass those costs on to—absolutely nowhere. Why should our farmers have to wear this for something that is going to make absolutely no difference to the climate? We produce 1.4 per cent of global emissions. We are reducing our emissions by only five per cent. If the rest of the world is not on board, if our major trading partners are not on board, it is not going to make the slightest bit of difference to the climate. So the Labor government can jump up and down as much as they like and say, ‘This is action on climate change.’ They are just weasel words. They are absolute rubbish.

The thing that is so sad and makes those of us who understand this so angry is that all of those costs are going to fall on people who can least afford them. It is not only our farmers across the regions who will be affected; it is our small businesses across the regions and all those people in hospitality across the regions. And it goes further than just the regions—it will affect everybody in our metropolitan areas as well. What are you going to say, Senator Forshaw, to all the blue-collar families in your state who say: ‘We can’t afford this. We’re pushed to the limit anyway’? Why are they being asked to pay higher costs and to wear the embedded impacts of this legislation for something that they know is not going to change the climate anyway? It is simply wrong.

It is absolutely extraordinary that we are being asked today to extend the hours of sitting to ram this through. The arrogance of this government knows no bounds. There is a complete disconnect between what the Labor government say and what they do on the other side of this chamber. They purport to care for working families and they do not—not one bit. What are they doing now, in their arrogance? They are asking us to ram through hundreds and hundreds of pages of legislation with a $14 billion turnaround, as identified by Senator Joyce. What opportunity do we have to look at it in detail? Absolutely none. The government says: ‘A couple of days and a bit of extended sitting; that’ll be fine. We’ll whack it through the Senate.’ No: that is not right and it is not on, because the ramifications of this are huge. It is about time this government started listening to the people of Australia and what they want. It is simply not fair.

Farmers, who are going to have to face all of these increased costs, are the very people who feed this nation. I would say to all of those people living across the cities at the moment: the next time you walk into a supermarket, have a thought for the farmers who are putting the food on your supermarket shelves. I know our city cousins have a very high regard for our farmers. But particularly in terms of this ETS debate, every time you walk into a supermarket think to yourself: ‘I wonder which Australian farmer is going to get belted today if an ETS comes in? I wonder how much the cost of produce on my supermarket’s shelves is going to increase?’ Let me tell you: it will, because all of those costs are going to be passed on. They are going to go right back in the laps of those farmers and then onto our supermarket shelves.

People in the cities are going to get hit as well. This scheme is going to come at them. As my colleague Senator Joyce said, it is going to come out of their shopping trolleys, out of their light switches, out of their power points—it is inescapable. At the same time you are considering that, my good city cousins, think about your farming cousins. Think about the farmers across this nation who are spending their lives producing food for our supermarket shelves. They are doing it day in, day out, at the end of drought. And in a lot of areas it is not the end of drought. People need to realise we have some farmers in very serious circumstances at the moment. They are in the middle of harvest and, in a lot of areas, are really doing it tough. It is not fair for this arrogant Labor government to bring in an ETS that is going to belt regional Australia harder than anywhere else, belt our farmers harder than anywhere else, yet not make one bit of difference to the climate.

To all of those people who have written to me and to my Nationals colleagues: thank you very much for taking the time to let us know your views, because we can only represent you if you tell us what you want—and we know overwhelmingly that you do not want an ETS. Get onto your Labor senators in New South Wales—though I am betting pounds to peanuts you do not even know who many of them are. Go to the website to find their names, contact them and tell them what you think, and maybe, just maybe, it will make them change their minds and make a better decision.

I came into this place believing that the decisions we take in this place should make the lives of Australian people better. When I use that premise to look at this legislation I see that it simply does not. It is going to impact enormously on the regions, on people right across this country, on our working families, our mums and dads, single people—everybody. The costs are going to increase, yet it is not going to make the slightest bit of difference to the climate. By my judgment, that is not making the lives of Australian people better.