House debates

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Bills

Clean Energy Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Household Assistance Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge — General) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Auctions) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Fixed Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Customs) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Excise) Bill 2011, Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011, Climate Change Authority Bill 2011, Steel Transformation Plan Bill 2011; Consideration in Detail

7:04 pm

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

I rise to use this forum to speak on this carbon tax legislation after having been gagged speaking on the main debate—being allocated only five minutes to talk on it, which was absolutely shameful and in particular shameful for my electorate of Wannon. The constituents of my electorate deserve better treatment than that.

I rise tonight to talk on some particular aspects of this bill. I am glad that the minister is here tonight and I hope he is listening to what I have to say. It goes back to a question I asked the Prime Minister about the impact that this carbon tax will have on the dairy industry. In that question I outlined that if Murray-Goulburn or Bega or Warrnambool Cheese and Butter were operating in the European Union they would basically be exempt from paying the European Union carbon tax—the tax they pay under their emissions trading scheme.

The dairy industry in Australia employs over 40,000 people and indirectly provides jobs for over 60,000 people. By not protecting our own local dairy industry the government is putting at risk local jobs within the dairy industry, because the dairy industry is an emissions-intensive trade-exposed industry. It has nowhere to go to pass the costs on. They have to be passed back to the dairy farmer. We have very good research which shows that an average dairy farmer will be hit with costs between $5,000 and $7,000 per dairy farm. For some of the bigger dairy farms in my electorate we are looking at costs of $10,000 to $15,000 to $20,000. I ask the minister in the chamber tonight: if he was putting an impact on his own constituents of $15,000 to $20,000 per farm, would he stand there and let this legislation go through? These are working dairy-farming families that he is hitting with these extra costs and taxes.

Following my question to the Prime Minister, the Australian Dairy Industry Council wrote to the Prime Minister, and copied it to the minister. It stated:

I write regarding your response to the member for Wannon in question time last Thursday regarding the impacts from the proposed carbon tax on the Australian dairy industry. Your response to the question infers that the likely cost impacts on dairy farming families and dairy companies are being misrepresented in the current debate. The Australian Dairy Industry Council strongly rejects any inference that we have or are engaging in misrepresentation on this issue. From the very start of public discussions on climate policy the ADIC has observed that the impacts of carbon pricing on Australian dairy farmers were likely to be significant, unless appropriately structured. Carbon pricing would lead to a sharp increase in dairy's key on-farm energy import, electricity, and the inevitable pass-back of higher energy and import costs for diary manufacturers to farm suppliers in the form of lower milk prices.

This is a serious issue which will impact my electorate. We produce more milk in the south-west than any other region in the country does. You are directly whacking, directly impacting on, the dairy farmers in my electorate. It is time that the minister got his head out of the sand and had a look at the detrimental impact this carbon tax is going to have on the dairy industry, and especially on dairy farmers in my electorate. If we were in the EU, they would be exempt, because they are trade exposed emissions intensive. They need the same exemption here in Australia. (Time expired)

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