Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Senator Wong. I refer the minister to evidence given to the Select Committee on the Scrutiny of New Taxes last Wednesday when the Secretary of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mr Blair Comley, said and confirmed that under the government's proposed legislation the carbon tax would in fact apply to fuel from 1 July 2012. Given this admission, will the minister now also admit that this means that around 60,000 Australian businesses will have to pay the carbon tax directly as of 1 July 2012, not just the 500 the government misleadingly claims, and that about 100,000 businesses will have to pay it from 1 July 2014, not just the 500 that the government misleadingly claims.

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

I am rather wary of accepting what has been asserted as having been the evidence, having just been advised that Senator Abetz misquoted the Clean Energy Future website in his question. He left out the per unit of GDP, which was a rather important aspect of the question—anything to get a question in, I suppose. I also congratulate Senator Cormann on his House of Representatives ambitions. I see that he is seeking to make a move. I do not know whether he should be congratulated or commiserated for seeking to leave the chamber.

In any event, the government has made clear that all fuel, including petrol, diesel and LPG for passenger motor vehicles and light on-road commercial vehicles, will not be subject to a carbon price. Households and most small businesses already pay fuel excise on their transport fuel and will not face a further carbon price. I am not sure whether or not the senator has been accurately quoting the evidence from the committee. It is the case that some businesses get fuel tax credits, which obviously means they pay no excise or road user charges. The fuel tax credits will be reduced for many businesses, such as mining businesses who use fuel off-road, so that they face an effective carbon price. To help the heavy on-road sector transition to the carbon price, the government's position is also that heavy on-road vehicles will be exempted for the first two years of the scheme, but the government's intention is to bring them into the scheme from 2014-15. Fuel tax credit entitlement will not change for agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given that, after all of her bravado, the minister just quietly confirmed that tens of thousands of Australian businesses will be forced to pay the additional 6.21c per litre for fuel under the government's carbon tax, what compensation, if any, will these small businesses get from this government?

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

Senator Cormann talking about others having bravado is kind of ironic. I take issue with the premise of his question, which appears to suggest that the government has not been clear about this. This information has been on the public record from the day of the announcement. If the senator checked the documentation which was released on the day of the announcement he would see that the various ways in which fuel is treated were made clear on that day and subsequently. So any suggestion that this is only now being revealed by virtue of Senator Cormann's fabulous questioning is untrue. I would also make the point that all fuel, including petrol, diesel and LPG for passenger motor vehicles and light on-road, will not be subject to a carbon price. (Time expired)

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given the government's own Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has now clearly contradicted the Prime Minister, is it not the case that the Prime Minister's 'No carbon tax on fuel' promise is just another one of her broken promises?

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

That is not the case. The position is as I have outlined and was the same position that was articulated by the government on the day of the announcement. I am not sure how much further I can assist Senator Cormann on this issue. I have outlined the position in relation to fuel. It is regrettable that those opposite persist in peddling a range of false information about climate change, about the carbon price and about the Clean Energy Future package. It is regrettable because this is an issue that is important for the long-term interests of the Australian nation. It is about ensuring that we do move to a clean energy economy. A carbon price does act as a signal to investment to ensure that we see even greater investment in clean energy jobs in clean energy industries. That is the way of the future.