Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig. I note the announcement this afternoon that JBS Swift will close its abattoir on King Island with a loss of 100 jobs, citing high operating costs in terms of utilities and domestic and export freight costs as key reasons. Why has the government continued to ignore warnings from the food processing sector, including the beef industry, regarding government imposed costs from regressive taxes such as the carbon tax which have increased costs for both energy and shipping, the stated reasons for the closure? Now that we are seeing the impacts of this regressive tax, what action will you take to support agriculture and prevent more closures?