Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am glad that the minister is prepared to engage in the debate. I have a couple of things to say. Manufacturers cannot pass the costs through. These are businesses which compete globally, so they cannot pass the costs through; instead, they must suffer the consequences.

Let us listen to what three manufacturing businesses say. Alcoa has confirmed that the carbon tax along with the strong Australian dollar and high import costs is imposing 'a significant threat to the future viability of both the Victorian aluminium smelters'. Alcoa also confirms that the carbon tax will cost the company around $40 million a year. I will leave it there.

Let us look at the two small manufacturers in my electorate. Mr Peter Carthew, who is the Chairman and Managing Director of AME Systems, says:

The Carbon Tax is the sort of charge against our business which we cannot recover from in an already highly price competitive market place …

Mr Les Gason, Chairman of Gason Industries, says that they are expecting an increase of up to nine per cent in expenses. Forget about the Treasury modelling; that is what the business on the ground is saying—nine per cent in expenses. Mr Gason says:

This imposes a cost on us which I don’t believe is necessary or fair, because it is not imposed on the imports we compete against. These additional costs will make it a lot harder.

I invite the minister to come down to Wannon, and together we could go and see these two small manufacturing businesses in Ararat. We could then go down to Warrnambool and meet with Murray-Goulburn and Warrnambool Cheese and Butter and have a discussion about the direct impact of the carbon tax on the dairy industry. We could then head to Portland and have a discussion there with the workers about the impact that the carbon tax will have on the aluminium sector. I extend an open invitation to the minister to come down.

While we were there, we could also talk to local farmers. I have not started yet on the impact the carbon tax will have on other parts of the agricultural sector in my electorate. Agriculture has diversified in my electorate. We now do a lot of cropping. Modelling done on the impact of the carbon tax on a grain property in Western Australia says that the tax will add an additional $36,000 a year in farm business costs. For meat processing, which is trade-exposed and emissions-intensive, the carbon tax will mean that at least another 24c to 30c per sheep is taken off the farmer's bottom line. We have just been through 10 years of drought, and now along comes the government to hit the competitiveness of our meat industry. For sheep meat we are looking at a 16 per cent loss under the carbon tax, and the list goes on.

So I offer to the minister, the Prime Minister or any member of the government who would like to come down the chance to talk to the farmers, the manufacturers and, in particular, the dairy industry in the electorate of Wannon to see what impact this carbon tax is going to have. I reiterate once again to the minister that, if Murray-Goulburn, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, Fonterra or Bega operated in Europe, they would be largely exempt under the EU scheme. The reason they would be exempt is the European Union does not want carbon leakage. It does not want jobs and industry going overseas. It is a shame that the government here will not stand up for our industries and for jobs in our country, and is going ahead with the standalone, do-it-yourself carbon tax, which is reckless. (Time expired)

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