Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly, rooned indeed. Thank you, Chief Government Whip. It is worth noting some of the other myths. I said before that one result of the price on carbon will be to add 0.7 per cent to the costs of living. State-based regulators have confirmed key aspects of that forecast. The Treasury analysis said that electricity prices will be up by 10 per cent. The New South Wales pricing regulator, IPART, confirmed that electricity prices would rise by $3.30 per week. IPART also said the impact on council rates would be 0.4 per cent less than under Treasury modelling. Those opposite have been saying all sorts of things about what the impact would be. It is quite astounding, when you match the reality against the myth, to see what will really be the case.

We have had all sorts of claims made about what effect the carbon price will have on councils. IPART and the New South Wales Minister for Local Government confirm that council rates will rise 0.4 per cent as a result of the carbon price. For average households, how much does that add per week? When it is applied to council rates, 0.4 per cent is just six cents a week—that is all that it will lead to. This has been an incredible attempt to spread fear about the carbon price. The New South Wales government has now confirmed the Treasury forecast, and after all that modelling and all the work that we have done, we are in a position to be able to provide facts instead of the fear that has been provided by those opposite.

What about some of the other claims that we have had? We have had the member for Wide Bay, who at some point is actually going to ask the member for Grayndler a portfolio-related question—

Mr Jenkins interjecting—

You are right, the member for Scullin, it is highly unlikely, but we live in hope. Let us look at the impact on flights. Virgin, for example, has announced that on most flights it will only add $1.50. We had a scare campaign yesterday by those opposite, who said that aviation would be doomed—and rooned—yet we have had Rex put out a release for their 2011 full year results which quotes its Executive Chairman, Lim Kim Hai, as saying:

I am actually more optimistic and confident of the outlook and potential of the Rex Group than I have ever been for the past nine years.

And what about the claims in relation to Brindabella where—and I have never seen this before—we had the shadow Treasurer going to table a document, then folding the document in half, tearing it and handing up the convenient part but leaving out the inconvenient part. These are improvements to the House practice that I have been happy to see as a new member!

It is important, as the MPI states, to rely on fact instead of fiction. It is incumbent on those opposite to not only demonstrate exactly what they intend to do but also, importantly, to represent properly what impact this will have. As well as rate rises, they have talked about the cost of landfills and how that would be affected. The biggest move in relation to increases in landfill costs has come as a result of the waste management levies in New South Wales, not as a result of anything to do with the carbon price.

We have taken action on an issue affecting the nation. In the past, we have had delay—governments have delayed, deferred action on this and put it in the too-hard basket. We have acted. Those opposite agree that we need to act. It is a bipartisan target. It is time to get to work, instead of wilting under the pressure.

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