Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I am conscious of the fact that Senator Birmingham, who is running this for us, is keen to have a vote on this particular amendment before a quarter to 12, so I will keep my question very short. The minister would be aware of the banana industry in North Queensland. He would be aware that the banana industry uses a hell of a lot of electricity in its cooling and ripening rooms and a hell of a lot of transport fuel to get the bananas from Tully in Far North Queensland down to the markets in Sydney and Melbourne. The minister would also be aware that just a year ago the Labor Party leader Julia Gillard promised she would never introduce a carbon tax in her government and here we are actually debating bills around the carbon tax.

The banana industry in North Queensland will be hit with increased electricity costs once the carbon tax that Julia Gillard promised would never be introduced is introduced. The banana industry will also be hit with huge increases in freight costs to bring bananas from Far North Queensland down to Sydney and Melbourne. The banana industry will struggle just as the northern beef cattle industry will struggle. Can the minister assure me that the Carbon Farming Initiative will actually help banana farmers by giving them some assistance that will in a very small way ameliorate some of the additional costs they will have to pay when the Gillard government introduces its toxic carbon tax?