Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

This package of bills, the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [No. 2] and related bills, which will repeal the carbon tax, is vitally important for the welfare of our nation. This package of bills will repeal the toxic carbon tax. This package of bills will reduce the cost-of-living pressure on all Australians, especially those on welfare and pensions, as they will see the cost of their power and energy bills reduced.

The Palmer United Party's amendments, to be moved by Senator Lazarus, will lock that in place and the government will be supporting those amendments. We believe that there was a mechanism in place, and I will describe it: we provided the belt but the PUP provided braces as well. So we have a belt-and-braces position to absolutely lock in the reduction of power prices for the Australian community, especially those on lower incomes.

This package of bills will not only reduce the cost of living for all Australians; it will also remove the blot from our economic landscape—a blot which has destroyed thousands of jobs. From closures to offshore investments and expansion plans being put on hold the carbon tax has, without doubt, been a job destroyer.

Australian-made motor vehicles, for example, had an impost of an extra $400 on each unit, courtesy of the carbon tax, which will be removed, unfortunately, too late. We have the example of smelters and sectors in the manufacturing arena closing because of energy costs. And we have the example of Coogee Chemicals, which wanted to establish in Australia but decided not to because of the cost of energy and the carbon tax. They went to China to establish and, as a result, denied the investment and the jobs in Australia and are now emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in China than they would have done in a pre carbon tax Australia. Just keep that in mind.

Dairy farmers have experienced an impost of an extra $10,000 or thereabouts per dairy farm. That $10,000 comes out of the pocket of the family that runs the dairy farm—a direct impost on their costs. So we will see the removal of this impost on jobs and on business which, of course, will assist in jobs. There are many other examples I could provide. But, most perversely of all, the carbon tax is destructive to the environment. With the highest carbon tax anywhere in the world, we have seen the export of production from Australia to countries whose regime of environmental protection is nowhere near the Australian pre carbon tax standard. We were therefore exporting jobs, wealth and emissions to elsewhere in the world.

Keep in mind that this carbon tax was so good that, in 2010, we were promised there would be no carbon tax. Labor then said they were forced into a deal with the Australian Greens to keep government. Well, I do not believe former senator Bob Brown of the Greens would have joined with the coalition to form government and I do not think it was a concession that was needed. Nevertheless, let us accept that to be the case, that they needed to do so. Might I add, Labor and the Greens then combined to guillotine that legislation, against their mandate, through this place. But now, regrettably, the Labor Party are still in lock step with the Australian Greens, keeping the carbon tax on life support day after day, despite having gone to the 2013 election with this brochure, amongst others, which reads, 'Kevin Rudd and Labor removed the carbon tax'. It was such a good idea that Labor went to the 2010 election promising there would be no carbon tax and then went to the 2013 election promising that they had removed the carbon tax. Nothing could be further from the truth and, as we sit here today, the carbon tax remains an impost on Australians' cost of living whilst destroying jobs. Might I add for those sitting opposite, especially those in the Australian Labor Party, that each one of those Labor senators, whether they were elected at the 2010 election or the 2013 election, were elected on a promise of no carbon tax. And yet we see the Labor senators continuing to vote with the Australian Greens.

Earlier today we heard a plea from Senator Wong—the architect of Labor's debacle of an emissions trading scheme and the budget blow-out—complaining about the proposed time management for this debate. I accept the principled positions of some senators but I cannot accept it as a principled position from Labor and Greens senators, when they voted together to gag 52 bills through this Senate when they had the majority. When I say 'gag', not one single syllable was able to be spoken by any senator on any of those 52 bills. They were just rammed through. And they have the audacity to say that this government sought this morning—and yes, we did try—to truncate the debate. But we tried to truncate the debate after 33 hours and 52 minutes of debate on these measures. By any standard, that is indicative of a very patient government that has allowed this debate—or, more correctly, suffered this debate—to go on for 33 hours and 52 minutes, and now we are being accused by Senator Wong and the Greens of gagging debate on this in circumstances where those parties combined to ensure that 52 bills were rammed through this place without a single syllable being spoken on any of those 52 bills.

I remind senators that these bills have been around for nine months. Why the urgency? We went to the last election, in opposition, promising—