George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Evans. I refer the minister to the Prime Minister’s statement last weekend reported in the Sunday Telegraph under the headline ‘Julia Gillard offers tax cuts … to offset price on carbon’ in which the Prime Minister is quoted as saying that tax cuts were a ‘live option’ in the government’s plans to provide compensation following the introduction of its carbon tax. I refer also to the report in this morning’s Australian Financial Review that the government has ruled out linking personal income tax cuts to the introduction of the carbon tax. If the carbon tax is inflicted on Australian families, will there be compensation by way of a reduction in personal tax or will there not be?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brandis for the question. Firstly, I would make the comment that one ought not take as fact everything one reads in the papers and the debate about those reports ought to be couched in that context. What I can say is that the government has made it clear that any revenue from a price on carbon, the tax that will apply to Australia’s 1,000 largest polluting companies, will be distributed in the Australian community to assist individuals, families and businesses adapt to the new environment. We have made it very clear that the revenue would be used in that way—

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All of it?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and that all of the revenue would be provided, as we did under the proposed CPRS scheme, to assist individuals, families and businesses to adapt to the new regime. Senator Brandis asked about how that revenue will be distributed. What the government has made clear—

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order. I did not ask about how revenue would be distributed; I asked whether there would be or would not be tax cuts.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brandis, I believe the minister is answering the question. The minister has 49 seconds remaining.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not know what Senator Brandis is auditioning for, but when one is talking about how one distributes the revenue, one of the options is taxation.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brandis interjecting—

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If I am allowed to finish, Senator Brandis, I will explain to you that one of the options open to the government is to provide relief in terms of personal taxation as a way of distributing that revenue from the taxation. But it is also true that people like pensioners, for instance, are not necessarily paying tax and, therefore, a compensation arrangement which was only based on taxation reductions would not assist those people. We made it very clear that one of our priorities would be to assist the most disadvantaged in our community and people like pensioners and families doing it tough. So taxation is one of the options the government will look at in meeting its broader commitment.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given that the Prime Minister and other senior ministers have been talking up tax cuts as compensation for the carbon tax, when will the government stop playing its rule-in rule-out game and reveal precisely how it plans to compensate Australian families for price rises following the introduction of its carbon tax, or will Labor just leave working families in the lurch once again?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I made clear to Senator Brandis in the answer to the primary question, the question of distributing revenue from a carbon tax to members of the Australian community through a taxation mechanism is a live option. But we are not playing the game of rule-in rule-out. You are asking us to play the game of rule-in rule-out. We are not playing that game. What I can assure the Australian public of is that this government will ensure that the revenue that comes from the tax on Australia’s big polluters will be distributed in the community to assist those individuals and businesses to adapt to the new environment, as the economy moves to a cleaner energy environment. What we do know is that the Liberal Party have committed to take away that compensation. They have committed to remove any compensation given to Australian families and pensioners. That is what we do know.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister guarantee that no Australian family will be worse off as a result of the carbon tax: yes or no?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Clearly if the Liberal Party were to come to power, people would be worse off, because they have committed to remove any compensation. So clearly I cannot give any guarantees to the Liberal Party, because they have announced a plan to make people worse off. Their plan is to take away any compensation that is paid to families and pensioners as a result of the introduction of a tax on Australia’s big polluters. What we have made clear, as we seek to transform the economy to a cleaner energy economy, is that we will distribute any revenue from taxation on carbon polluters to families and businesses in order to help them adjust to the new arrangements. That has been made perfectly clear, and the only risk to any compensation arrangements is the Liberal Party, who threaten to take them away.