Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Hansard source

You might think that is a joke, but it most certainly is not. After compensation, a sum of $5,200 is really going to focus the attention of those people, and it is not particularly easy to find an extra $5,200 out of mid air. Even today, we have had further releases from organisations like the Housing Industry Association commenting on the decline in commencements. They have highlighted the urgency of the need for investment and reform to boost new housing supply. That is hardly rocket science; it actually is not. Nevertheless, we have the government still refusing to take serious note of this, as far as I can tell. The Chief Executive Officer of the Master Builders Association of Australia, Wilhelm Harnisch, today issued a statement saying:

A new survey of the building and construction industry has found a massive 88 per cent of those polled believed the carbon tax will hurt their business over the next 12 months.

These are not the sorts of people that those opposite love to attack every day. These are not people you can gratuitously slam, as those opposite slam Gina Rinehart or Mr Palmer. These are small business operators. They are subbies; they are people who are plumbers and tilers—the sorts of people you would hope Labor would find some capacity to defend and support. But apparently not. We also see, as the MBA says:

... homebuyers are delaying their decisions as they assess the impact of the carbon tax.

The carbon tax will have such a regressive, catastrophic result on the housing industry and new home building that it should not be proceeded with.