Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment. Minister, I refer to figures released by the Clean Energy Regulator that show the carbon tax has penalised Woodside Energy with at least $172 million in higher costs in the last financial year. Minister, what impact has the carbon tax had on Western Australia and why should this tax be repealed forthwith?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Pearce for his question. It is always a pleasure to receive a question from him. I am sorry, but I have bad news. After 105 days the carbon tax, which is doing its damage to the Western Australian economy, remains stuck in the Senate.

Members may remember that a former member of this House, Pat Farmer, ran from the North Pole to the South Pole. After 105 days, he had crossed the Arctic, travelled down the Canadian coast and passed through New York, and, on his own feet, he was halfway down the US coast. After 105 days, the Leader of the Opposition cannot even be bothered to get up and walk from here to the Senate to get his members in the Senate to vote for the repeal of the carbon tax. We have had 105 days and nothing—no action, inaction, a go slow and a strike.

Why does this matter? Because the member is correct: it is a $172 million hit on Woodside Energy, but more than that, it is a $627 million hit on Western Australian firms alone. Within the oil and gas sector—a sector which is facing attacks not faced by its competitors in the Middle East, Vietnam and Indonesia—that tax alone costs $265 million. It is not just costing Woodside. It is costing the Burrup project $55 million, Apache Energy $17 million, DBNGP $5 million and Chevron, Mitsui and APCO all $3 million. Wesfarmers had a $2 million hit and BGC, Gold Fields, EDL, Vermilion and ENI all paid a million dollars in carbon tax in the last financial year alone. What does that mean? It means that in a globally competitive environment, where capital decisions are made on the return on investment, Western Australian firms are being hit with a tax not paid by their competitors.

That is precisely why in the last two weeks we have heard the CEO of BHP, Andrew Mackenzie, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States making the point that the carbon tax is, 'a tax that was designed in a way that was actually very injurious of Australia's competitiveness'. Only today, we heard the president of GE make it absolutely clear in terms of Australia that the government has the mandate to repeal the carbon tax. If you want to do something for Western Australia, go and tell your senators to pass the repeal and get out of the way. (Time expired)