Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I know, I know. I am sorry, and I regret saying it now. I want to go through the ramifications of this new tax. The ramifications of this new tax on Australian families are quite dramatic, and I defy anyone in this chamber to stand up and say that Australian families are not under cost-of-living pressure. Everyone in this country knows that Australian families are under cost-of-living pressure. It is tough out there for families and it is incredibly tough out there for small business. I do not expect those opposite to know anything about the way of small businesses, because they pride themselves on getting involved in big business and then they reduce them to small business. They have no credibility at all in relation to small business in this country.

Small business is doing it tough, Australian families are doing it tough, and there should not be one person in this chamber who does not know how much electricity and other services have gone up in the last two years. They have gone up quite dramatically—and compared with a lot of people in this country we are well remunerated. I will just go through the figures. I think some 6.5 cents per litre is predicted to go on top of petrol prices if this goes through. If you are living in inner Sydney or inner Melbourne, the constituency of the Deputy Prime Minister—or is he the Prime Minister down the other end here—you do not know the impact of increased petrol prices. Get into the country and you will see what the impact of petrol prices is. Get into the country and see the families who have to drive their kids to two or three schools every morning and come back every afternoon. You go and speak to them about what impact petrol prices have on their families. Go and speak to those people who have lost all their crops in the last month and see how they will be doing it over the next 12 months, whether they can afford increased electricity, gas and petrol prices. The clear fact is that they cannot do so, and why we would be ahead of the pack in relation to this is beyond me. I am reminded that we emit just 1.28 per cent of global emissions; China, 22.3; the USA, 19.91; and the EU, 14.04. And we are leading the pack!

The outcome of this will be that you will be exporting nothing except our emissions. The Australian Labor Party will ensure that we are exporting nothing but our emissions, because that is what will happen. For all its sins, this country is a relatively clean emitter, but we are going to take our industry, particularly our manufacturing industry, away from this country and put it overseas in countries where they do not have the same controls that we have. That, to me, is a nonsensical outcome.

I have spoken to my colleague on my left, Senator Fierravanti-Wells, about the impact on the Illawarra, for example, and the jobs that we have lost in the Illawarra. That will take place all over the country. If you are looking at Victoria, look at the impact on a company like Alcoa, which is a very big employer in Victoria, and there will be plenty of others in a similar position.

I will finish where I started. I express my sincere condolences to those who have suffered so badly during these floods. I plead with the Australian Labor Party not to proceed with this tax and most certainly not to proceed with a new carbon tax.