Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is disappointing that I have to rise this morning and talk about this, because it is obviously a political ploy by the other side to extend this debate; in other words, it is a filibuster. I thought that, given that everybody bar one currently in this chamber is facing an election in two weeks—Senator Collins will be facing an election in November in her home state of Victoria—I might get up and speak to this silliness which is going on. In our home state of South Australia we are facing some tough times. I have just listened to Senator Milne's contribution, where she seeks 100 per cent renewables. I guess that, when you are a minority party, you never have to worry about balancing the books or how many jobs have been modelled to be lost while you move through a transition economy into a utopian existence where we have 100 per cent renewables. When you have the responsibility, and the majority of Australians on 7 September last year voted for change and a change in policy—there could not have been a clearer policy position than that we would abolish the carbon tax, and they voted overwhelmingly for that change—there cannot be a stronger proposition for the people on the other side to stop this, this week. Stop it and vote this legislation through.

In my home state of South Australia, we face an election in two weeks, and my Tasmanian colleagues in the chamber are in the same predicament. The two states under Labor reign have the unenviable position on the economic tables of being the two least economically viable states in this country. As we all know, in recent weeks Holden announced that they will be withdrawing from Elizabeth, in Adelaide's north. In the weeks leading up to the 2013 federal election, the member for Wakefield tried to con voters by sending a letter to the entire electorate stating that he had personally 'secured guaranteed support for GM Holden, ensuring production at Elizabeth until 2022'. What a cruel hoax that letter turned out to be. That is just one part of the mismanagement and waste that is Labor, under not only the member for Wakefield's former government but also under that of Premier Jay Weatherill. Their ambivalence about the drivers of business is the real reason why these businesses have failed. Labor certainly had no vision for the car industry, as we saw when Mitsubishi and Ford went under on Labor's watch. So, really, who is responsible for the slaying of Holden's line? As I said, in two weeks time, Tasmania and South Australia will go to the polls, and I guess we will have an idea of who the voters believe is responsible for the inattention and the ambivalence that is the carbon tax.

Now Toyota have announced that they will be leaving Australia in 2017. This will have a huge impact not only on Victoria but also on South Australia, where hundreds of jobs in the auto components sector rely on selling their product directly to Toyota. Both Holden and Toyota cited the high cost of doing business in Australia as the reason for closing down their manufacturing operations. That is the common denominator. Just at a time when they were least competitive, the government gave them a carbon tax—a tax of which their leader had said, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.'

The carbon tax is one of many tax increases and regulations that the previous, Labor government burdened industry with. This coalition government has committed to removing that carbon tax and putting Australia in a much better and more competitive policy setting so that the private sector can flourish. That is what we were elected to do and that is what we are doing here today. The carbon tax has hurt families, hurt businesses and hurt our economy. Not only does the carbon tax make it more difficult for Australian businesses to compete abroad, because other countries do not have the level of carbon tax that we in this country have; it also makes it more difficult for domestic businesses to compete at home because there is no carbon tax on imports coming into this country.

In the last 24 hours, a very respected and prominent industry participant, Mr John Borghetti, the CEO of Virgin airlines in this country, provided some commentary which everybody on the other side should listen to. Despite all the noise that is going on about Qantas and Virgin, both he and the CEO of Qantas airways, Mr Alan Joyce, have stated that the carbon tax is a massive impost on their business. In fact, Mr Borghetti said it was not up to governments or oppositions to 'pick winners'. He stressed:

… the best assistance the government and the opposition—

that is you lot over there—

can provide is the removal of the carbon tax, which has cost this industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

I know that you do not necessarily study the business pages of any of our financial dailies here, but, if you had not noticed, airline and aviation is at a crisis level.

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

Thank you, Senator Whish-Wilson, because I know you have a background in equities and you understand how financial markets work. I would be pleased to hear, in your contribution to this chamber, how you see that cruelling the aviation industry with this tax, when there is no other aviation competitor to Virgin and Qantas, helps the aviation industry in this country. So I accept your interjection, and I will listen quite intently as to how you solve this problem.

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

Oh, 'A dollar extra for every person,' I hear you say. John Borghetti, another South Australian who is very concerned about the way in which you are filibustering this whole process of carbon tax, knows that when we go to the polls in South Australia and Tasmania in the next few weeks you will be judged for this level of incoherent political activity that you approached us with. He continued:

To that end, I just say we applaud the government's position on this.

Virgin Australia has reported a half-year loss of $84 million; $27 million of that is Labor's carbon tax. That is on top of the $106 million hit to Qantas from its tax charges last year. So while Senator Whish-Wilson says, 'It's just another dollar per passenger,' it is actually all those shareholders' costs. They are not competitive. When Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Etihad and Air New Zealand—all of those—fly into this country, how much do they charge their passengers from their countries of origin for their carbon taxes? Labor, you must face up to the clearest possible mandate that was given by the Australian people to this coalition government on 7 September. The carbon tax is a hit on jobs. And it is not just on the aviation sector; you must know that. It is across the board—including Western Australia, where its impact is aggravated by Labor's failed mining tax.

Anyway, back to South Australia. South Australia had the worst economic growth performance of all mainland states for each of the last two years—and that is not my data; that is ABS data. South Australia's domestic economy, excluding exports, contracted last year—also the worst performance on the mainland. Alarmingly, South Australia was the only state to record a drop in exports, with South Australia's goods exports contracting by 1.7 per cent last year. There are many things governments can do to help ease cost pressures on businesses, and repealing this carbon tax is an essential legislative step we must take.

The peak business group in South Australia, Business SA, surveyed its members when the carbon tax was initially announced back in February 2011. An overwhelming 69 per cent opposed its introduction—another example of the former Labor government's inability to listen to the needs of businesses. In its submission to the carbon tax repeal consultation, Business SA stated:

While the Carbon Tax has only been in effect for just over 15 months, it has impacted business and in particular small business. The South Australian economy has, according to preliminary estimates, contracted over the past 12 months and the Carbon Tax is putting further constraints on an already struggling economy which has a significant manufacturing component. South Australian small business has also faced the most rapid increases in energy prices across Australia in recent years and the Carbon Tax is an avoidable component of these costs.

So businesses are doing it tough. Are you listening? No, you are not. Scrapping the carbon tax is the first of many ways this coalition government intends to help make doing business in Australia easier and more competitive. Through removing over $1 billion of red tape out of the economy each year, we plan to help businesses get back on track.

'But what about reducing greenhouse emissions?' I hear you ask. With regard to renewable energy, South Australia has certainly punched above its weight. Again, I quote from Business SA's submission:

That is not to say South Australia shouldn't do its fair share to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, South Australia reached its 20% renewable energy target back in June 2011, well before the introduction of the Carbon Tax. This furthers the argument that Australia can and will meet its obligations to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions without a Carbon Tax.

That is what they have said. But we have all paid the price for this renewable energy, and the carbon tax has been an added cost to our already expensive electricity prices.

Finally from Business SA:

South Australian business and in particular small businesses have had to absorb significant energy price rises since 2008 with electricity costs alone rising approximately 80% of this period. Repealing the Carbon Tax is one step towards easing the rise in the cost of electricity to reduce the cost pressures on our businesses.

But do you listen? Do you listen to the peak industry business bodies? No. We are in this chamber, beating it out, slugging it out, while you talk it out.

So it is not just businesses that will be delighted to see the repealed carbon tax. Scrapping the carbon tax will save households an average of $550 a year. That is real cabbage; that is a lot of money. So, on average, household electricity bills will fall by $200 a year and gas bills will fall by $70 a year. The government have a plan to provide relief on electricity prices and we are keeping our election promise to repeal the carbon tax. Our promise was to repeal the carbon tax and we were elected on that promise.

South Australians have been particularly affected by electricity prices, and we see that in our travels around our state. Bill shocks from the electricity price hikes in South Australia are a major cause of electricity disconnections, according to a report by the South Australian Council of Social Service. That is real pain out in the households. Electricity prices in South Australia are already among the highest in the world and urgent action is required to ease the pressure, with a growing number of South Australians having their power cut off following massive electricity price hikes.

The future for farmers, families and small businesses under this carbon tax is not bright. I am concerned about the impacts for many small businesses in my home state, whose overheads are already high and whose margins are low. The horticulture industry is suffering greatly, out through the northern areas of Bolivar, the Wakefield Plains and those areas—the food bowl of South Australia. And, indeed, all of those areas in Tasmania with high-production horticulture industries are suffering, without doubt, and feeling the effects of rising power bills as a result of a carbon tax.

I need to look no further than the effect on a business that I know, as does Senator Whish-Wilson from Tasmania: the wine industry. We are both very concerned about the lack of margins in that industry. If you watched a story on the ABC's Landline yesterday you would have seen a lot of people concerned about the rising costs of production in that sector. Electricity, fuel and mechanical harvest costs are major inputs of wine-grape production affected by the tax. Combined with the sector's exposure to trade and current low profitability the carbon tax is just another impost on the growth and future of the industry at large. Growers have indicated that up to half the increase in power bills is attributable to carbon tax charge. There is no doubt the carbon tax is contributing to the demise of profitability in this important industry sector. The value of the Australian wine industry was $4 billion five years ago; it is now down to $2.8 billion. How do we reverse this trend? We make it more profitable and give people greater money to access markets to grow their businesses and not cruel them.

There was so much uncertainty and such little confidence in government over the years during which Labor, with its flip-flop policy settings, ran this country. We have been very clear: we want to remove this carbon tax and remove the uncertainty that goes with the carbon tax. The only certainty with the carbon tax is more cost, less margin, fewer people employed, less profitability and less growth.

If Labor continue to oppose scrapping the carbon tax then they continue to support higher electricity prices for all Australians. To those people in Tasmania and South Australia who are facing the polls in the next two weeks: I want you to bear in mind the actions that are being carried out in this chamber when you vote. It is another example of those on the other side of this chamber having no regard or interest in supporting industries and issues taking place outside their own sphere of influence.

A clear message has been delivered by Australians: they want to see the carbon tax gone in its entirety. The previous government said the tax would reduce domestic and global emissions yet, pursuant to their own modelling, even with the tax, domestic emissions will rise from around 560 million tonnes in 2010 to 637 million tonnes in 2020. I say to all of those on the other side: listen to the Australian people, get with it, vote with us on this and repeal this hideous tax.