Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the specifics in regard to those disability enterprises, I am happy to check and come back to the chamber with more information. In regard to community organisations and charities, it is pretty clear that funding is being put forward by the Australian government to support those organisations and I have said that in this chamber numerous times. With the introduction of the carbon price, the Low Carbon Communities Program will fund grants for local community organisations to support them to retrofit or upgrade community-use buildings and facilities to reduce their energy usage. This will cut their energy costs and serve as demonstration projects to promote energy efficiency in the community. There will also be a dedicated funding stream under the Low Carbon Communities Program to provide payments to charities to offset the carbon costs they will face if they require usage of aviation fuels for maritime purposes. That will attract an effective carbon price under the fuel excise and tax credit scheme.

This funding will be provided on an ongoing basis. I have made this clear on a number of occasions. The funding of many charities and community organisations, I am happy to say, will be indexed. So, as costs rise, funding will be increased. The indexation will be changed annually after consideration of movements in the data that underpins the estimates of costs faced by these groups. This means cost impacts resulting from the introduction of the carbon price will be captured in this indexation and organisations will automatically receive increased funding over time. We believe in supporting charities and the not-for-profit sector and we welcome comments from those organisations. We understand organisations are keen to know what the carbon price will mean for them and what support they will be entitled to.