Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is no surprise that the peddling of the perpetual scare campaign from those opposite continues along the road of trying to scare businesses or anyone who will listen to their stories and trying to have them believed. We know, and the business community knows, that it is all spin. Telling everybody that the reason their bills are going up is as a result of the price on carbon and telling the electorate that the Labor government does not support small business could not be further from the truth.

We should reflect on the position that the Leader of the Opposition and many others in the other House have taken on this issue. Mr Tony Abbott said, 'This is an impact on the cost of living that would be almost unimaginable.' Mr Joe Hockey said that it would 'drive up the price of everything'. The Senate Leader of the Nationals, Senator Barnaby Joyce, said that it would 'force working mothers to pay over $100 for a roast'. These are all untruths, all complete lies peddled by those opposite. That is what they continue to do. They go out in public and, to whomever will listen, spin nonsense about the effects of the carbon price.

As a government we are fully committed to helping our small businesses, and this is evident through the various policies that we have introduced. With the minerals resource rent tax we delivered a $6,500 instant asset tax write-off. We have established a new loss carry back initiative which can provide tax refunds of up to $300,000 for eligible businesses to encourage them to invest and to adapt. We introduced this country's first Paid Parental Leave scheme, which enables new parents to keep their ties with their employers so that businesses do not lose skilled staff. We are rolling out the National Broadband Network, which will give small business access to quicker internet and lower phone and internet bills.

In the gym this morning, I was talking to a member from the other House. She indicated that, in her electorate in New South Wales, small businesses are crying out for the NBN. They just cannot wait for the opportunity to make sure that it is implemented so that they do not have to travel as far as Sydney and abroad to run their businesses. This is the sort of thing that those opposite will roll back and are opposed to.

The new broadband infrastructure will give business access to technology, including videoconferencing, cloud computing and virtual private networks. The clean energy future package is aimed at our biggest polluters, not at small business. That is where those opposite do not seem to get it. Whilst we acknowledge that those businesses may face indirect costs, documents presented to the government by the Council of Small Business Organisation of Australia said that electricity makes up less than two per cent of their business costs. So, there you go: you have the Council of Small Business Organisation of Australia indicating that electricity costs make up less than two per cent of their business costs.

Treasury modelling estimated that the impact of the carbon price may be about 10 per cent on a small retail business, which would be less than 0.2 per cent of its total costs. We are doing what we can to ensure that the price on carbon will not hugely impact small business. Some of the measures we have implemented include $27.5 million to extend the Small Business Advisory Services for another four years. We have also invested $40 million in an Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program, allowing small business and community groups to find out how to reduce their energy costs. We have invested $5 million over four years to provide clean energy advice to small business. We have also invested in a small business commission so as to give small business a line to the government and to ensure that the government implements policies which hold the best interests of the small business community. A grant has also been provided to the Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating to deliver seminars through Enterprise Connect workshops and industry intelligence networks. These will inform industry of the short- and long-term carbon price impacts and opportunities for energy efficiency improvements.

Not only has the opposition been spruiking the impact of the clean energy futures package on small business; it has been spruiking the impact on businesses in general. Once again, it is blatant scaremongering. Since 1 July businesses have been taking positive steps to make their companies more energy efficient, and they have been cutting their emissions and their power bills in the process. By taking action and driving down their electricity prices, they are reducing their emissions, reducing their energy intake and assisting the environment. De Bortoli Wines in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales has undertaken a range of measures in all aspects of its business, from production to warehousing to improved energy efficiency and the upgrading of old equipment. The Gillard government is providing $5 million to the company, which will lead to an improvement in their energy efficiency by 36.3 per cent. New South Wales food processors Crafty Chef will install a new commercial blast freezer thanks to almost $500,000 from the federal government. This will reduce the carbon intensity of its operations by 54.1 per cent, reduce energy intensity by more than 56 per cent and boost its turnover by 150 per cent. Fonterra in Wagga Wagga will reduce its carbon emissions intensity in chilling and pasteurisation by 88.9 per cent and its energy intensity by nearly 89 per cent thanks to $152,881 from the government.

The list goes on: CSR Building Products in Ingleburn will receive funding to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 18.3 per cent and CSR Building Products in Vermont will take action leading to emissions intensity reduction by 19.6 per cent. Rickety Gate in Western Australia will reduce its emissions intensity by 69.7 per cent after installation of a battery backup solar power system. A project at Ferngrove Vineyards will see improvements of 62 per cent, Kenner Foods will see a 39.9 per cent improvement and Naturaliste Vintners Pty Ltd will reduce their emissions intensity by 51.1 per cent and improve their energy efficiency by almost 49 per cent.

Really, these numbers are quite staggering and are in stark contrast to the opposition's claim that businesses will be hard done by.

It gives an excellent example of what businesses are doing across our country in respect of how they tackle climate change.

This Labor government has introduced a price on carbon, and it was the right thing to do. On reflection, we should go back in time and remember that the coalition's current opposition leader, Mr Tony Abbott, was caught out on Sky spruiking that the carbon tax is the right thing to do. In fact, he actually said:

If you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with a simple tax?

That is what he said on Sky News not long ago. He went on to say:

Why not ask electricity consumers to pay more, then at the end of the year you can take your invoices to the tax office and get a rebate?

So you can see the contradiction, the disingenuous arguments that those opposite are presenting here today when their leader, Mr Tony Abbott, said some time ago, 'Why not put a price on carbon through tax?' He went on further to say:

It would be burdensome, all taxes are burdensome, but it would certainly … raise the price of carbon, without increasing in any way the overall tax burden.

That interview was filmed in 2009, the same year he was given the title of the 'Weathervane'. And let us not forget that was the year he knifed his then leader, Malcolm Turnbull, in the back. So when it comes to contradiction, you only need to look to those opposite and you will find the true examples.

Not only are we salvaging a future for our next generation; we are also making sure that we will have an environment that they can enjoy. We have received huge criticism from the opposition about bringing it in, but it appears that if the coalition was in government it would have implemented one anyhow. In the past we have seen members admit that putting a price on carbon was the best way forward. This was even said by former Prime Minister John Howard and has also been said by the current Liberal leader, as I indicated when relating the Sky News interview.

Last week the member for New England, Mr Tony Windsor, said that Mr Abbott would have put a price on carbon. In the Australian on Friday, Mr Windsor is reported as saying:

The Leader of the Opposition knows that very well, because on a number of occasions he actually begged for the job.

Mr Windsor made the point:

… not only to me but to others in that negotiating period, that he would do anything to get that job.

Mr Windsor continued:

You would well remember—and your colleagues should be aware—that the only codicil that you put on that was: 'I will do anything, Tony, to get this job; the only thing I wouldn't do is sell my arse.'

That is what Mr Tony Abbott indicated to Mr Windsor at the time of trying to form government. How hypocritical can those opposite be when they sit here and wreck small business, putting stress on households when they are all prepared to put a price on carbon anyhow? That is the hypocrisy of this argument and of this motion here today from those opposite.