Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, I won't continue pressing you because my sense is that you're not going to be able to provide me with the number for the 215 companies that have identified that they don't have the technology available before 2030 to meet the emissions reductions that are modelled—the 4.9 per cent each year. Consequently, I think I'm going to have to find another way to identify that information. I have one company that has identified $50 million. If we extrapolate that across the 215, that is going to be a significant impost on those businesses. If the government doesn't know what that number is, I am concerned, because that is going to be money that would otherwise go into jobs, emissions reduction and other investments. I think the gap in the government's understanding of the impact of this tax is a gap that should be understood and appreciated by both the tax department and this department and certainly by the business community more broadly.

Minister, how did the government determine the priority industries that would qualify for funding? For example, the government has picked out cement and aluminium. If they're part of the energy transition, why would iron ore, met coal, copper and nickel—all of which the World Bank says are essential—not have also been included in that list?