Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Wong, the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Order! Senator Smith, ignore the interjections around you.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer the minister to the impact of Labor's carbon tax and mining tax on the community of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the Western Australian Goldfields region.

Government senators interjecting—

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

Order!

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Has the government calculated the costs—

Government senators interjecting—

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

Order! Order on my right! I will give Senator Smith the call when there is silence. Order on my right! Senator Smith.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Has the government calculated the costs that will be imposed on households and businesses following the introduction of the carbon tax and the mining tax, as well as increases to local council rates, given the council has been named and shamed as a big polluter by the Gillard government's carbon tax cop?

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

I thank Senator Smith and congratulate him on his first question in this place. He is a senator from a state which is certainly enjoying a substantial investment boom, and the Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Goldfields region is no exception to that. I assume he would know this region very well and would know we have a very substantial amount of investment going into that region, into Western Australia more generally and into this country. If you look at the recent figures for investment in the resources sector, that pipeline has continued to increase notwithstanding the mining tax and carbon tax scare campaign. From memory—I could be wrong and I will correct this if I am—between 2010 and 2012 investment in the resources sector has increased 2½ times. One would have thought that sort of multiple would suggest that the scare campaign about there being an investment strike in the resources sector as a result of the mining tax and the carbon price is simply false.

I am asked about price increases, and as the senator might have heard previously the government has modelled price increases. The CPI impact will be substantially less than was the CPI impact for the GST—about 0.7 per cent—and the government is ensuring it provides substantial assistance through tax reform and increases to pensions. Senator Smith might like to know that from 1 July we will also see a tripling of the tax-free—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Order! Senators wishing to carry on a conversation can go outside the chamber. I need to hear the minister, and Senator Smith is entitled to hear the answer to this question.

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

Thank you, Mr President. As I was saying, we are reforming the personal income tax thresholds, tripling the tax-free threshold. This will give Australians earning up to $80,000 a year a tax cut. We are also increasing various government payments such as the pension.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is it not the case that the government's compensation package will assist households to meet the 12.6 per cent increase in electricity charges for the first year only? How are Goldfields families expected to survive the added household costs of food, water, transport and council rates from day one and even higher power charges from 2013?

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

If the senator is concerned about electricity prices he might have a chat to the Premier of Western Australia about the price increase seen there as a result of state government decisions. That is something he should raise with his colleague. In relation to what the government is proposing, I again remind him of the substantial assistance that we have committed to—it is permanent and the government will review the adequacy of the assistance each year and increase it further if necessary. In the 2011-12 budget and the 2012-13 budget this government is providing a very large amount of investment into regional investment—far more than when the doormats were in coalition government. There is far more investment into health and hospitals in regional Australia, investment into education in regional Australia and investment into the Regional Development Australia Fund, and there are priority employment area initiatives. So there has been substantial investment by this Labor government into regional Australia. (Time expired)

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister advise of any other punitive measures the government has in the pipeline to further penalise the families and businesses in the resource rich areas of Western Australia, including the Goldfields?

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

I am asked about punitive measures. The punitive measures come from those on the other side who want to reverse the increase of the tax-free threshold—that is, give everybody in Australia earning under $80,000 a tax hike. That is the Liberal Party policy.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ha, ha, ha!

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

Perhaps Senator Abetz should have a chat to Mr Hockey, because that is what Mr Hockey has committed to—he will roll back the increase to the tax-free threshold. I suggest Senator Smith goes to Kalgoorlie and tells the people that, guess what, under Liberal Party policy anybody earning under eighty grand a year will get a tax hike because they are going to roll back the tax breaks, the increase to the tax-free threshold, that the Gillard government is rolling out. He should also say to pensioners in Kalgoorlie, guess what—the Liberal Party is going to claw back the pension increase that this government has put in place. Those are the punitive measures Senator Smith should be worried about.