Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

My contribution is entirely consistent with this legislation because it goes directly to the reason the government has put this forward in the first place. The government has moved to injure, hurt and damage manufacturing businesses across Australia. Then one of Labor's own, the national secretary of a major union that has significant sway with the Labor caucus and with Prime Minister Gillard, because he helped deliver her the leadership numbers, expressed concern about the damage this carbon tax is going to do to manufacturing and the impact it is going to have on jobs. This bill we are debating today is the price that Prime Minister Gillard has to pay in order to buy Paul Howes's silence.

This bill is a very inadequate attempt to avoid damage to Australia's manufacturing businesses. Incidentally, it focuses on only two businesses. This bill provides $300 million in assistance to two businesses: BlueScope and OneSteel. What about all the other manufacturing businesses that are going to be hurt by Labor's carbon tax? Why is there no assistance for the workers in all the other manufacturing businesses that are going to be damaged by the job-destroying carbon tax that Labor has pushed through this parliament? The reason is that Paul Howes's political problem is his re-election, and the problem is particularly acute in the steel industry, particularly when it comes to BlueScope and OneSteel. That is why we have this piece of legislation in front of us.

This government broke a most emphatic promise not to introduce the carbon tax and it is going to inflict significant damage on workers and working families across Australia. That is why they are introducing this bill. This is the bill which is designed to buy Paul Howes's silence. And Paul Howes has been silent. He has sold out all the other manufacturing workers across Australia. He does not care about manufacturing workers outside of BlueScope and OneSteel, obviously, because he is quite happy for them to cop the full brunt of the Labor-Greens carbon tax. I say to Mr Howes, as I say to every single Labor senator in this chamber: the workers of Australia condemn you for this. Manufacturing workers across Australia will condemn you for what you have done in this chamber today. They will judge you harshly at the next election, because workers across Australia know that you have sacrificed them on the altar of staying in power courtesy of the Greens.

Senator Polley interjecting—

Senator Polley is interjecting. I met with some manufacturing businesses in Tasmania. The owner of a manufacturing business in Devonport was on the front page of the local newspaper saying how this Labor carbon tax was going to cost jobs and how it was going to make him less competitive internationally. You know what happened? The local Labor member for Braddon, Mr Sidebottom, got stuck into his constituent. Instead of arguing the case for his constituency in Canberra, instead of arguing the case for good public policy, instead of standing up for jobs, instead of standing up for workers, he was selling the Canberra line back in Devonport. He was getting stuck into the local constituent. That is why Senator Polley is jumping up and down now, because the manufacturing workers in Devonport are not getting this assistance, the manufacturing workers in Launceston are not getting protection from this job-destroying Labor-Greens carbon tax. This is a dirty little deal between the Prime Minister, who was desperate to keep Paul Howes sweet, and Paul Howes, who is running for re-election as national secretary of the Labor Party, who could not possibly go and see his members at BlueScope and OneSteel and say to them, 'I have sold you out.' This is a pure numbers game.

Labor know that their carbon tax, which was passed in the Senate today with Labor and Green support, is a job-destroying tax. They know it is a tax which will push up the cost of everything. They know it is a tax which will make Australian manufacturing less competitive. They know it is a tax which will cost jobs. They know it is a tax which will see lower real wages. And all that while emissions continue to grow according to the government's own Treasury modelling. Manufacturing workers across Australia are entitled to ask: 'Why are you picking out these two businesses and giving them special treatment, even though it will not properly protect them from the carbon tax? What about all the other manufacturing businesses across Australia?' They are very legitimate questions. The only reason the government has put forward this bill is because Prime Minister Gillard had to buy Paul Howes's silence.

It is very much as President Regan said some time ago on another government's policy on the economy: if it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it; if it stops moving, subsidise it. Labor have gone through the three phases in one day. They have taxed. They were worried that would not stop things in their tracks enough, so they regulated. And now here they are going to subsidise in order to fix up some of the mess. This is an inadequate way of fixing up the mess. This legislation will not fix up the mess. This is a cosy little deal for a union boss who got the Prime Minister into her office and who is now important and necessary to keep the Prime Minister in her office.

There is no way that the coalition can be party to something like this. What should happen is that the Labor Party should agree to take their job-destroying carbon tax to an election. If Labor think that this is such a good idea, if Labor think the policy is so good, if Labor think that they can explain to manufacturing workers across Australia why they are asked to make a sacrifice that is not going to make a difference to the environment, then why wouldn't you take it to an election? That is exactly what Labor should be doing. But of course Labor are frightened of the Australian people. They were frightened of the Australian people before the last election, which is why Prime Minister Gillard said, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,' in order to get across the line. She knew that if she had not said that, chances were that she was going to lose government. And after the election, having made that promise, Prime Minister Gillard was too weak to persist. She was too dependent on the votes of the Greens to cling onto power to do the right thing.

Now we have Senator Conroy come into the chamber, who has worked very hard to avoid the carbon tax debate all day. Senator Conroy made sure that he did not have to vote for this carbon tax this morning. Senator Conroy will be there as leader of the Labor Party in the Senate, hopefully in opposition, and will, along with opposition leader Bill Shorten, vote to rescind the carbon tax after the next election. Let there be no doubt that the next election will be a referendum on this very bad, job-destroying tax. If we win the next election we will rescind it. If there is no carbon tax then there is no need for this sort of mop-up subsidy attempt, which is actually not going to do anything to protect either steelworkers or any other manufacturing workers from the job-destroying impacts of this tax.

We have Senator Carr here, and he knows that this tax which Labor has passed today will make manufacturing businesses in China more competitive than manufacturing businesses in Australia. He knows that higher emitting manufacturing businesses in China will become more competitive than lower emitting businesses in Australia. He knows that as minister for industry he is complicit in making Australian businesses less competitive than higher polluting businesses in other parts of the world. Minister Carr, Minister Wong, Minister Sherry and Minister Ludwig have all sold out to the Greens. The only minister in this chamber who did not sold out to the Greens today was Minister Conroy. We all know that he does not agree with the carbon tax. We all know that he shares our judgment that this is a bad tax based on a lie.

Debate interrupted.