Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

They manage to break promises on their own very easily, Senator Parry. Still the list goes on—stimulus advertising, $50 million wasted; climate change advertising, $14 million wasted. This next one I am particularly interested in: 150 public servants to administer the emissions trading scheme. Last time I looked, we did not have an emissions trading scheme. The Australian taxpayer paid $81.9 million to implement an emissions trading scheme which we do not have. That, to me, should ring alarm bells right across this country—$80 million to administer a program which does not even exist. It is things like this which rile people in the Australian community who are so furious that this government is about to put yet another tax on them to help flood victims. There is not a person across this country who does not want to help flood victims and their communities—not one. Australians object to this government putting another tax on them when their history and track record of waste and mismanagement is there for all to see. If this Labor government had any idea how to manage an economy, they simply would have the money to help flood victims and their communities without putting a massive new tax on the Australian people.

It is interesting to hear the arguments from the other side. It is obvious, from what we have heard so far, that the government do not have any arguments that stack up. Yesterday, I happened to be in the chamber to hear Senator Bilyk’s contribution. She pointed out that the levy will be in place for only 12 months. Please! Who believes the government on that one? With their history of broken promises and Senator Bilyk saying, ‘The levy’s going to be in place for only 12 months,’ who can believe that? You cannot believe this government. A very good example of why you cannot believe this government is the Prime Minister’s backflip on the carbon tax.

Senator Bilyk raised the carbon tax yesterday, so I am really only responding to what she said. Before the last election, this Prime Minister said to the Australian people, ‘There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.’ What do we have this week? We have the Prime Minister saying to the Australian people, ‘I’m going to give you a carbon tax.’ You do not have to be a rocket scientist to realise that that is a complete backflip. The Prime Minister lied to the Australian people. If the Prime Minister wants to give the Australian people a carbon tax, having told them before the last election that there would not be a carbon tax—and many people based their vote on the fact that the Prime Minister said before the last election that there would not be a carbon tax—then Prime Minister Julia Gillard should take that carbon tax to the people at an election before implementing such a tax. That is the only right, proper and fair thing for this Prime Minister to do because so many believed her when she said that there was not going to be a carbon tax.

Treasurer Wayne Swan even said that the coalition saying there was going to be carbon tax was a ‘hysterical allegation’. Remember that? The coalition were correct. We were absolutely dead right in questioning the Prime Minister. We were absolutely dead right in saying that she would bring in a carbon tax. Look at what she is trying to do now. She is trying to give this country a carbon tax.

A carbon tax will increase the cost of groceries, for families by around $300 a year. It will increase the price of fuel by 6½c a litre and will lead to losses of jobs, sending jobs offshore. The government loves talking about the ‘clean energy economy’—the phrase of the moment. We had ‘decisive action’ last year. I doubt many in the government would be able to explain what they mean by the clean energy economy. They keep talking about jobs from the clean energy economy, but there is no detail. They are not talking about what those jobs will be or where they will be. They are not saying, ‘Farmer Joe from over here will have to go over there to do something in IT. That’s a clean energy job. That’s good.’ They simply have not thought it through. Companies like BlueScope Steel have been talking about the enormous impact that a carbon tax will have on their company. We will see entire businesses forced offshore and Australian jobs will be lost. If we let our industries collapse and rely on imports for things like steel—and that could happen—we will be at the mercy of the countries selling us their product. Guess what will happen then? The price will go through the roof.

While this legislation is about the flood levy, I feel it is appropriate to respond to Senator Bilyk’s comments yesterday about the carbon tax. You cannot trust this government. When they say that this flood levy will be in place for only 12 months, you simply cannot believe them. I know my good colleague Senator Mason would agree with me entirely.