Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation and the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change, Senator Wong. I refer to research by JP Morgan stating that the carbon tax will have a devastating impact on the share earnings of many Australian companies—for example, BlueScope shares could be hit to the tune of 56 per cent under a $30 a tonne carbon tax. Considering the fact that millions of Australians have superannuation directly linked to the earnings of share investments, can the minister guarantee that super savings will not be adversely affected by a carbon tax?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is this the next stage in the fear campaign—you are not safe even in your superannuation funds? The thing that the opposition never speak about is what the impact of their policy will cost the economy, what the impact of their policy will cost Australian families, now and out to 2020 and beyond. The senator knows that in the context of the last parliament we worked in great detail with industries, including the company that she mentions and other companies and industries in Australia, who will be paying a carbon price for the pollution that they emit. We worked in great detail with them because we are a Labor Party, a Labor government, that have always supported jobs and have always supported superannuation. May I say, this is in stark contrast to those on the other side, who are actually opposing an increase in superannuation, which is consistent with their past performance of opposing the introduction, as I recall it, of superannuation for working Australians. So I think the opposition’s position on this is quite clearly hypocritical.

The other point I would make is that the government has released costings which show that the policy of the coalition would cost some $30 billion out to 2020. I would invite the senator to consider the impact of that cost, not only on the budget but on the economy as a whole, and reflect perhaps on the economic impact on the families she now professes to be supporting in the context of her question.

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Clearly, the minister did not understand that we were asking about the implications of the carbon tax that the government is imposing. Given that thousands of Australians who contribute to super funds linked to trade-exposed industries, such as CBus in the construction industry, MTAA in the motor industry, TWUSuper in the transport industry and FIRSTSuper in the timber pulp industry—(Time expired)

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

There are 30 seconds for supplementary questions. That is known in the chamber and I do not need help on either side.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think I get the gist of the question. I am sure the superannuation funds that the senator mentioned have investments in a great many companies. One of those companies might, for example, be BHP Billiton. The senator might like to recall what the CEO of that company said in relation to the introduction of a carbon price. Mr Kloppers stated:

… we do believe that such a global initiative will eventually come and … when it does come Australia will have needed to act ahead of it coming in order to maintain its competitiveness.

This is from the CEO of BHP Billiton. He also stated:

We are pleased government is progressing with a policy to begin the transition to a low carbon future for Australia.

Fundamentally, these issues come down to whether you believe that Australia’s long-term prosperity is secured by shrinking from the reality of—(Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister please outline what impact the carbon tax will have on the earnings and income for those who receive benefits under schemes that the minister is directly responsible for, such as ComSuper funds?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government believes that Australia’s prosperity is secured by recognising that we need to be competitive in a low-carbon world. Those on the other side might believe that the way to prosperity is to freeze-frame the economy and not go forward, but we are a party that believe in continued economic reform to ensure that our economy remains competitive in the future and not just today.

Unlike those opposite, we will continue to progress those national reforms, such as pricing carbon, which are about meeting future challenges and which sensible business leaders have recognised are important for Australia’s prosperity now and in the future. The difficulty with the senator’s question is that it assumes that we simply should do nothing. The reality is that we do have to do something in order to preserve our competitiveness in a world where low-carbon competitiveness will come at a premium.