Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I was actually quite shocked—I somehow did not appear in the article. This is a classic case of the selective use of statistics, hysterical headlines and the misreporting of facts. The report in the Daily Telegraphtoday sounds more like the Leader of the Opposition's political scare campaign than factual newspaper reporting. To suggest that the carbon price is causing a catastrophe in the economy is plainly absurd.

So what are the actual facts? The Daily Telegraph say a record 10,632 companies collapsed in the 12 months to 1 March 2013 due to the carbon price. What they do not tell their readers is that during the same 12 months over 186,000 new companies were registered according to ASIC figures—more than 17 times more new businesses being formed than going insolvent. In fact, the number of companies going into administration over the 12 months to 1 March 2013 was lower than during the preceding 12 months, when only 10,815 went into external administration. Less went— (Time expired)