Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting to have Senator Brandis calling for some honesty in the carbon debate. This is a bloke who walked in here and tried to accuse the carbon price of somehow changing the face of the media in this country. He now comes in here and demands that there be an honest debate about carbon. The government and I are up for an honest debate about carbon but the opposition have not wanted to have it. The opposition have wanted to engage in a factually misleading desperate scare campaign when it comes to the carbon price. That has been the entirety of the opposition's position when it comes to carbon.

I am aware of the announcement by Brisbane City Council. I am aware that there has been assertions made. The facts that I have been advised of are different from those that Senator Brandis put into his question. My advice might be incorrect—and, if so, I will make sure I correct the record—but if Senator Brandis is incorrect I would invite him to do the same. I understand that the Brisbane City Council has stated that the rate increase is made up of $11 million out of $15.8 million to cover an 0.7 per cent increase in the CPI. Even those figures, which are different from the figures that Senator Brandis has put forward, are misleading because, as everyone knows, the consumer price index is a measure of inflation across all goods and services. Councils are subject to a much smaller exposure to cost increases than households as they purchase a much smaller range of goods and services. The advice I have is that, while some costs will increase as a result of the carbon price, this is likely to be less than 0.5 per cent. But the important point is that the government is assisting— (Time expired)