John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was Senator Cameron talking about the cost of living and the working families. I have reminded Senator Cameron before about the 25.25 per cent interest rate I was paying under the so-called world’s greatest treasurer, Mr Keating. Senator Cameron, do not forget the figure—25.25 per cent. Put it in your mind and remember that cost of living.

It is amazing that they talk about working families and the working class. I have said it before, and Senator Conroy might listen to this: it was the shearers in western Queensland at Barcaldine under the Tree of Knowledge that started the Labor Party. You know, Senator McGauran, not one of those Labor senators would know how to load a handpiece let alone knock the wool off a sheep. I had the privilege of being at the Braidwood show two weeks ago and they said, ‘Can you shear a sheep?’ and I said that I would love to. It was two minutes and 29 seconds of my life that I really enjoyed, but I am glad that I do not do it all day these days.

But back to the cost of living. The taxes that this government have to pursue are amazing. They started off with the alcopops tax. That was going to fix all the problems of the young ones binge-drinking. Now they buy a full bottle of rum instead of a can of rum and coke, for example, and the trouble is worse. Then along came the next tax, the luxury car tax. ‘How dare you work successfully and hard in your life and get enough money to afford a luxury car. We’ll make sure we bring that to a finish.’ Then, of course, there was the mining tax. It was amazing how they said, ‘When we get this money on the resource super profits tax we’re going to spend it on superannuation for the Australian workers.’ Who owns the mining companies? Superannuation companies have a huge share in the mining companies. When those mining companies make a profit they actually give it to the super funds for the retirement of our workers. So the government thought, ‘We’ll take it off them. We can’t have them retiring on good money.’ This is what we call ‘the way to get level with the mining industry that is being successful in Australia’. What was next? The flood tax. There is the old saying of save some money for a rainy day. How true it is. What happened when too many rainy days came over the last few months and we had the devastation of the floods in Queensland, Victoria and northern New South Wales where I live on the border regions on the Dumaresq River? The government then looked into the tin to see how much money was left. There was not a cent there. In fact there was only a piece of paper and in red print it said ‘$184.6 billion’. That is what was in the tin. There was no money saved for the rainy day. So what did they do? Another tax.

Then, of course, the tax of all taxes, the carbon tax—the tax we were never going to have—was among the broken promises from our national leaders, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. I am sure that Senator Conroy is a man of figures and I am sure he will listen to these figures I am about to put to you, Madam Acting Deputy President Pratt. Each year the world expels around 40 billion tonnes of CO2, a figure similar to the amount of money that Minister Conroy is going to borrow to roll out his NBN scheme. I am sure he is familiar with the figure. Australia produces 550 million tonnes of that 40 billion. So, what are we going to do?

Let us bring it down to scale so those on the other side can understand it. Let us go down to 40,000 compared to 550. That will be 40,000 from the world and 550 from Australia. We are going to reduce that by five or 10 per cent. What is that going to do? If the rest of the world keeps emissions exactly the same—and they will not because we know China’s and India’s will go up five billion tonnes per year by the year 2020—we are going to reduce ours from around 550 million tonnes back to 500 million tonnes.

Senator McGauran would be interested in this—I did the figures this morning. The concern is too much CO2 in the atmosphere. The government’s plan will reduce the current levels of 380 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. How far will it reduce, given that the rest of the world will remain the same—and they will not. It will reduce CO2 levels from 380 parts per million all the way down to 379.5 parts per million. Have you got the figures, Minister Conroy? It is 0.5 of one part of a million; a half of a part of one million.

It is the same as having a great big tin with forty thousand $1 coins in it. Imagine that, Madam Acting Deputy President: between us is a big tub with forty thousand $1 coins in it and Australia put in 550 of those coins—just 550 of the 40,000 CO2 emissions each year. So we are going to take fifty $1 coins out of the tub of forty thousand $1 coins, and guess what? That is going to save the world. We are going to take it out at a cost of about $14 billion a year to each and every Australian. That is what the cost will be. Out of the tin of forty thousand $1 coins we are going to take out 50, and that is going to save the world!

That is outrageous. It will shift our industries overseas. We know what is going to happen: pressure the steel industry and the aluminium industry—I am sure Minister Conroy is well aware of the aluminium industry and how much electricity it uses, along with the cement industry; transfer the jobs overseas; expel more CO2; and bill the Australian people $14 billion. We do not know the details. They have talked about certainty and that the whole issue of a carbon tax is to bring certainty. We do not know how many dollars a tonne it will be. We do not know if it will be on fuel. We do not know when it is going to go to an ETS, and when it does convert to an ETS the price of carbon will then depend on the traders on the world market. We will not have a clue what it is going to be trading at. This is what is called certainty! It is outrageous and the people of Australia will not be fooled. We had enough out there today, and that was only a start. They will not let you put our nation down the tube, and there will be more to say on this at a later date.