Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We note the Labor Party's sensitivity on this issue, through Senator McLucas. They have not told the truth. They have lied to the Australian people for a couple of elections in a row. That is fundamentally what this debate is about. It is about honouring the will of the Australian people—not the eight per cent who voted for the Greens and voted for a carbon tax. It is about honouring the will of the 90-odd per cent who voted against the carbon tax. That is what this debate is about.

Never before had a government sought to sabotage its own economy as the Labor-Greens coalition did when it introduced the carbon tax. I think never before has a major political party lied about the same issue two elections in a row. For two elections in a row the Labor Party has gone to the people and lied about its intentions on the carbon tax. The first was in 2010, when they said they would not bring it in. The second was when, having not honoured that promise, they went to the 2013 election promising to terminate the carbon tax. Now they have the opportunity and they are choosing to dishonour that promise again.

The mums and dads, the small-business men and women, and the pensioners of Australia are waiting for the judgement they delivered at the last election to be honoured in this place. That is what they are waiting for. They are waiting for the judgement that they gave on this issue to be honoured, and the Senate should respect the judgement of the Australian people. They should respect the judgement of those small-business men and women, those mums and dads, and those pensioners who are doing it tough, who want that relief and who are now waiting for what they voted for—and what the overwhelming majority of people voted for—to be honoured.

In introducing this bill to the House of Representatives the Prime Minister took the first and most important step in building a more prosperous economy for all Australians. This was a tax introduced by the previous government after promising not to do it. They then promised to terminate it. It is worth reflecting on what Kevin Rudd had to say on it. Before the 2013 election, he said:

The Government has decided to terminate the carbon tax to help cost-of-living pressures for families and to reduce costs for small business …

We agree that terminating the carbon tax would reduce cost-of-living pressures and would be good for small business in this country. That is what we are seeking to do through these bills.

This is a tax that unfortunately does not help the environment but does hurt consumers and businesses. It is a tax which is all pain for no gain. It is staggering to fathom the true cost of the tax: a $7.6 billion hit on the Australian economy in 2012-13 and a direct hit on 75,000 businesses. It is $7.6 billion for an emissions decrease of only 0.1 per cent. Scrapping the carbon tax will mean that families, on average, will be $550 better off this financial year. It will mean that electricity bills will be $200 lower a year and gas bills $70 lower a year. Electricity prices went up by around 10 per cent because of the carbon tax and we know—as Kevin Rudd himself said, when he was promising to scrap it before the election—that scrapping the tax will relieve families of that cost burden.

We saw a recent example right here in the ACT, with the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission's determination. We know that in July 2012 electricity prices went up in the ACT by 17.7 per cent, and around 14 per cent of that 17 per cent increase was attributed to the carbon tax. We heard recently, in the determination from the ICRC, that the complete removal of the price on carbon considered in isolation would cause ACT retail electricity prices to fall by about 12 per cent. That is what we would see right here in the ACT.

The senior commissioner of the ICRC said:

It is important that customers enjoy the lower retail electricity prices that would flow from such a move as early as possible.

I say, 'Hear, hear,' to that. We on this side agree wholeheartedly with the statement of the senior commissioner of the ICRC

It is important that we get this tax repealed as soon as possible so that electricity users around this country can enjoy lower prices and have their cost-of-living pressures eased. These are real cost reductions of hundreds of dollars, and we did not hear anything about it from the senator representing the ACT, Senator Lundy. There was no mention of the 12 per cent decrease that would occur here in the ACT if she and her colleagues voted for lower electricity and gas prices for consumers here and right around the nation. If it is not removed, families will not get the relief that they deserve.

The repeal of the carbon tax will enhance the competitiveness of both big business and small business. It means that businesses will save $87.6 million each year in compliance costs because they will no longer have to deal with the red tape of the carbon tax. We on this side of the Senate want to see businesses flourishing, and there are a range of things that need to be done. Lowering their electricity costs is a very important part of allowing businesses to flourish. We know this because we have heard it from so many businesses. Just in the last few days we have heard from the Virgin Australia CEO, John Borghetti, who stated that the best assistance the government and the opposition can provide is the removal of the carbon tax, which has cost this industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is all well and good to lament issues that the industry is having, but those opposite—the Labor Party and the Greens—are imposing hundreds of millions of dollars of additional costs on those industries. This debate is about removing those costs. Virgin Australia reported a half-year loss of $84 million, which included a slug of $27 million for the carbon tax. We know the figure for Qantas is a $106 million hit from the tax just this year. This is a cost that overseas airlines do not pay. It is a cost that the vast majority of overseas businesses are not burdened with. So it is effectively a reverse tariff that hits our companies—companies based here and companies employing people here—that does not hit their international competitors. That is why it is reckless, that is why Kevin Rudd was right to promise to terminate the carbon tax and that is why the Labor Party should honour that promise, having broken its promise before the 2010 election.

The hypocrisy of those opposite is astounding. Of course, those opposite would be fully aware that not only is the carbon tax hurting now but it is also set to rise. At the beginning of the new financial year, if not repealed, the carbon tax will rise to $25.40 a tonne. Just last week, the Labor Party abandoned their support for carbon tax options. They said yes to saving businesses and consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. I call on them to go one step further and support the repeal of the carbon tax, as the Australian people have urged them to do and expressed in the clearest possible terms at the last election. This debate is about honouring the will of the Australian people, lowering the cost burden on businesses and lowering electricity prices for families, pensioners and those doing it tough in our community. Not only do we have the Labor Party and the Greens voting to increase electricity prices and to increase gas prices, but they are doing it in the face of the clearest possible message that has been delivered to them at the ballot box. It is time that that mandate was respected. It is time that this carbon tax was repealed.