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

In speaking in opposition to the government's intention to increase cost pressures on the charitable and not-for-profit sector and on the voluntary sector with the introduction of the carbon tax, I would firstly like to the opportunity to put a comment made by my colleague Senator Fiona Nash on the record. During question time, poor old Minister Penny Wong complained that the coalition was always saying, 'No, no, no,' to government policies. Senator Nash promptly responded, 'That is because your policies are so bad, bad, bad.' Regarding 'bad, bad, bad', there could not be worse than what we are looking at today with the issues that are raised by the government's intention to simply plough on regardless of the costs to every sector and particularly this sector. I was somewhat bemused by Senator Bilyk's comments regarding the carefully designed package. If this is a carefully designed packaged, God help us and God help the not-for-profit and community sector.

The Gillard government's carbon tax—the 'Not under my leadership carbon tax'—is an all pervasive instrument that will affect every corner of our society and every part of our economy. It is contagious. The extent of its reach is evidenced by the effects it will have on every sector, including the most vulnerable in our community. A succession of shabby and incompetent Labor administrations have turned their backs on the very people they once purported to champion.

Within Liberalism there has always been the view that government should allow people to conduct themselves as they wish and to be as successful as they aspire to be but that we should have safety nets to assist those who cannot achieve their best through no fault of their own. We continue to stand by this faith. This carbon tax, on the other hand, is another sign of Labor's incompetence. Rather than a carefully designed package, the consequences of this tax have not been thought out and are stark evidence of Labor's inability to care for anyone or anything other than what the Greens tell them to care about.

The not-for-profit sector in Australia, as I think everyone would agree, performs a wide and incredibly important function in assisting millions of Australians. There are over 600,000 not-for-profit organisations in Australia. They account for eight per cent of national employment. They contribute $43 billion to Australia's GDP and the sector continues to grow at the strong annual rate of 7.7 per cent. This is partly because of the ageing of the community, partly because of the development of more and better services and partly because of the expectation of families that people in Australia should be given a decent life. In a world of increasing self-interest, it is good to acknowledge that 4.6 million Australians volunteer in the not-for-profit sector every year. That saves the government $15 billion in forgone wages. However, we should acknowledge that in this sector, which will be severely harmed by the plans of this government, there is very high underemployment. Underemployment in Australia has been rampaging ahead since 2008, with employers basically forced to reduce hours of work, because that is the only way they could stay in business under the regime set up by this government. The underemployment rate in Australia rose to 7.6 per cent in February this year from 5.9 per cent in August 2008. One sector that is particularly affected by this is the not-for-profit sector, which relies a lot on part-time workers and, in many cases, underpaid workers. I think we could look quite reasonably at the debacle that is currently going on in Queensland regarding the more than 316 organisations that, on 1 October, will be forced by regulations signed by Minister Evans to cough up back pay, and they are not being compensated for it. We are talking about $500 million or more in back pay being required by the ineptitude and incompetence of this government, in cahoots with the Bligh government. The Red Cross, for example, are saying they expect their back pay bill to be between $4 million and $5 million, yet there is no suggestion of any funding to assist them with this.

Now let us add in what is going to happen under their carbon tax. It is quite amusing that Senator Bilyk somehow thinks that increases for disability support pensioners will help the sector. Is she suggesting that there will be no problem if all the organisations put up their fees to cover the increased costs from the carbon tax for disability support pensioners? Is that what she wants to happen?

Let us look at some of the costs. Senator Fifield mentioned that electricity prices have already gone up 50 per cent since 2007 and are expected to go up another 40 per cent over the next six years as a result of the carbon tax, with no compensation at all to the not-for-profit or community sector. As Senator Fifield pointed out earlier, this is often quite a power intensive industry. We are talking not only about disability enterprises but also about some of the supported accommodation areas, where there are people who may have sight problems, or those who need medical equipment that works all night or people who require more lighting around them than might be the case in other households. Add that to the costs of the organisations themselves—their head offices—and their inability to do it. So, there is no compensation there.

Gas prices have risen 30 per cent since 2007 and will go up again, with no compensation. Groups such as the Salvation Army, Catholic Social Services Australia, the Uniting Church, Meals on Wheels, Blue Care et cetera rely heavily on fuel and on transport services to assist their clients. They visit people in their homes to provide medical services, food services and other assistance to people, simply to be there to offer respite to their full-time carers. Despite these very large fleets and the large amount of fuel used by these organisations to service these things, again, there is no compensation for these increases in fuel. Even on the food side of it, there will be no compensation to Meals on Wheels for the extra cost of food and the extra cost of the power they will use.

Look, for example, at the Endeavour Foundation, which is one of Australia's largest not-for-profits. It is primarily based in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. It supports a large number of people with intellectual disabilities. Over $35 million of their budget goes on things such as utilities, transport and household consumables. All these will be affected by the carbon-tax-driven price increases. And, again, there is no compensation. These organisations have for years existed on the smell of an oily rag. Now it looks as if they will even have to pay carbon tax on the rag itself, but with no compensation.

There are four million people in Australia with a disability and two million carers. It is all very well to say that it is individuals and they will get the same compensation as other pensioners and other low-income households. That is fine, but it does not change the fact that the services that are available to them will not be there. As for the ridiculous furphy of this government regarding the lack of compensation in the coalition's scheme, well, I am sorry, but if you do not put people's costs up ridiculously with an inept tax you do not have to compensate people. Costs will be lower under a coalition government.