Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Boswell asked, 'What have they got to hide?' I do not know. I suspect it is because, since 2007, electricity prices across Australia have increased by an average of 51 per cent; gas prices have increased by an average of 30 per cent; water and sewerage rates have increased by an average of 46 per cent; health costs, hospital costs, dental costs and pharmaceutical costs have increased by an average of 20 per cent; education costs—school fees—have increased by an average of 24 per cent; and rent has increased by 20 per cent. The cost of living is just going up and up and up—and you want to impose from 1 July next year another impost on business which they cannot pass on. It will erode the profitability of businesses through increased electricity prices, and all that lays before them is fewer job opportunities for people in manufacturing.

Just out today, we have got the Australian Food and Grocery Council saying that, amid the range of ominous trends and forecasts, the industry is at a crossroads. Its publication shows that the industry is facing a perfect storm of costs and regulatory pressures. How much more of a burden are you going to put on business when the carbon tax comes out? There will be more forms to fill in. In its Industry at a crossroads publication it is saying there could be a loss of up to 130,000 jobs in manufacturing and a further 6,000 jobs in associated sectors like agriculture by 2020. There could also be a slump in operating profits of 4.4 per cent and 11.6 per cent, purely because of the introduction of the government's economic— (Time expired)