Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would have preferred to take note of the excellent question and speech by Senator Troeth today than to have to take note of the answers, or nonanswers, to the questions that we received on the topic of carbon tax and carbon pricing. I am bemused by the fact that this government and Minister Carr would try to suggest that facts should somehow get in the way of the carbon tax debate, as though they have never engaged in deception. We have Senator Bilyk claiming that there is no other way. She claimed the road ahead must lead directly to a carbon tax to save the economy. She said it is a carbon tax that will save the economy.

Let us look at the deception piled on deception that this government is currently indulging in. It was only the day before the last election that the Prime Minister said that there would be no carbon tax, and that a carbon tax would never be imposed on the frail Australian economy by a Gillard government. That was the day before the election. That is deception No. 1. Now we are told that there will be a carbon tax. In fact we are told that there must be a carbon tax, and that this government is the sole custodian of truth on the topic of carbon tax.

You then say: ‘No-one is debating with us. No-one is working on the detail.’ What detail? There is no detail. They have never set out any detail. There is no pricing out there at all in the current situation. How can we argue about what this is going to do to the Australian economy without pricing? We can certainly say that the deception by Senator Wong and others that only the big polluters will pay it is just that: an outright deception. Unfortunately, I think it is based on their complete lack of experience and knowledge of how manufacturing and business in Australia work. I do not think they deliberately set out to be dishonest on this particular point, although that is what their rhetoric achieves in the end. You cannot claim that only the big polluters will pay.

Perhaps we could look at why there are emission-intensive companies and operations in Australia. Why are they there? They provide products absolutely vital to our economy. Senator Troeth mentioned the cement industry. I would like senators to think for a moment about what it is in Australia that can be constructed without the use of cement. The answer is nothing. If we import all that, what will happen is that emissions will rise by at least 15 per cent because every one of the competitors to our current producers is at least 10 to 15 per cent higher in their emissions production than those of our current manufacturers.

Let us look at other areas where there is indeed fear. Irrespective of what Senator Carr says, there is fear within the steel manufacturing industry, within the coal industry and within the mining industry. There is fear everywhere. Yes, these companies are a high polluters. They are (a) less polluting than their international competition and (b) they are providing what are absolutely vital and essential inputs for every business in Australia. It is not just big polluters who will pay; it is everyone. It is every business, it is everybody who ever builds anything, it is everybody who ever uses any product made using a polymer—and the list goes on and on. It is Australia that will pay, and to pay in a situation where we do not have the capacity to match our international competitors is folly; it is complete folly and deception.

Question agreed to.