Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I can, Senator Smith. Business leaders across Australia want this carbon tax to go. They understand that to take Australia back to a global competitive edge we need the carbon tax to go. We need to bring down the cost of doing business in Australia. We need to ensure that businesses across Australia, in particular in Western Australia, can be more competitive internationally again. I will just add to the numbers that I shared with the Senate before. Australia's manufacturing industry has been hit with a bill of at least $1.1 billion as a direct result of the Labor-Green carbon tax. I will share that again: the Australian manufacturing industry has been hit with a tax bill, a carbon tax bill, of at least $1.1 billion—the mining sector, $530 million, the oil and gas extraction sector, $450 million. Of course, this has a serious impact on our economy. (Time expired)