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

All of Australia was particularly interested in the Leader of the Opposition going to the RSPCA—as I was part of the way through saying—to talk about the poor old cats and dogs that were very scared about the introduction of a carbon price. As the Prime Minister said, next he will be talking about Skippy. I would have thought that a person who aspires to be Prime Minister would perhaps do a little better than wandering along and trying to scare homeless cats and dogs over the introduction of a carbon price. Politics is odd and people do different things, I suppose.

In terms of the programs that will assist not-for-profit groups around the country, these are obviously in addition to the reforms the government has put in place for the not-for-profit sector. I would like to draw the Senate's attention to the Low Carbon Communities program, which is worth more than $300 million. This is intended to fund grants for community organisations to retrofit or upgrade facilities to reduce energy use. I would encourage charities, including the RSPCA, to consider such an application. I am advised that the RSPCA did not apply for the first round of the Community Energy Efficiency program, which is part of this program. For charities there is also a dedicated funding stream under the program to provide payments to offset any carbon price impact on essential maritime and aviation fuels used by such organisations as air and sea rescue services. This funding will be provided on an ongoing basis.