Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

The carbon tax starts in just a few days, on 1 July. This carbon tax's impact will not be felt straightaway. This economy-wide tax will be a slow burn as the costs make their way to consumers through a range of measures in our economy, and this tax will go up every year.

I have the Boddington mine in my electorate. At a meeting with Tony Esplin, the general manager of Newmont's Boddington Gold Mine, in April this year Mr Esplin highlighted the crippling effects that Labor's taxes are about to have on the mining industry. Mr Esplin is concerned about the carbon tax's negative effect on their business. He believes that if the mining tax is eventually applied to gold—which the Greens want—and Newmont's Boddington Gold had a double whammy of big taxes then it would make it very difficult for it to stay profitable. This is troubling news to hear, particularly as the site has petitioned to become Australia's largest goldmine when in full production; some suggest it could be up to a million ounces a year. It simply shows us that the companies that mine resources, other than iron ore and coal, are still very nervous about what taxes might be thrust upon them next by this government, in coalition with the Greens, and they should be.

Just six days before the last election, we know what Prime Minister Gillard said: 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' She misled the Australian public and business owners nationwide. I am very concerned, as Newmont Boddington Gold supports my electorate greatly through the provision of jobs, with Canning having about 1,500 fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out workers, encouraging consumer spending throughout the local economy.

This brings me to the area of small business. When the shadow small business minister, Bruce Billson, visited my electorate on 7 June, he heard the concerns about the carbon tax from local small business people. This tax does not discriminate. If you use power, lighting, cooling, heating, computers or any such electrical machine, you will be paying a tax. If you have transport costs associated with doing business, you will be paying the carbon tax. If you need products built and made for your businesses—steel, office furniture or motor parts—your business will feel the impact of this carbon tax.

Local government authorities are feeling carbon tax pain as well. There is pressure on councils and local government authorities to factor carbon tax costs into their budgets from now on. Councils may be shocked to see that the impact could go as high as $1 million to them individually. Any increased costs are difficult for councils to easily absorb, particularly ones with small ratepayer bases. It is unfair for this Gillard government to say that businesses cannot say cost increases are due to the carbon tax or they will be investigated by the ACCC. That is a bit of a standover tactic by the government. The City of Armadale in my electorate has been listed as one of the top 500 organisations on Prime Minister Gillard's hit list for this carbon tax. Armadale city's landfill pushes them onto this list because landfill facilities with emissions of 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent or more are liable to pay this carbon tax. Although the city will not pay carbon tax on legacy emissions—legacy emissions are those produced from waste deposited prior to 1 July 2012—these emissions have been used to calculate whether they are liable for the tax. The calculation, including the legacy emissions, pushed the City of Armadale to just around 26,000 tonnes. How unfortunate! If it were 24,000 tonnes they would not pay anything, especially as the city has operated at this landfill since 1974 and, back then, having a landfill was doing the right thing. They have not even had time to budget for or install any gas-capture technology to soften the blow of this carbon tax, even though it was only discovered they were on this carbon tax hit list when it was announced through media reports less than two months ago.

The shire of Murray in my electorate has also indicated it may need to review the hours that the streetlights stay on in their local government authority because of the additional cost of the carbon tax on electricity. The shire wants to keep rates as low as possible and has said that any increase in costs is always a concern as it risks other projects and services within the community. Councils are also finding it difficult to calculate these costs. Housing affordability will be hit, some say by up to $16,000 on a new home.

I say to the members opposite: you are like a bunch of lemmings following your Prime Minister over a cliff and you will come back to us here one day and say, 'Yes, but we all thought we were doing the right thing.' The difference is that when I lost my seat to the GST election, John Howard took it to the people. Julia Gillard, this Prime Minister, did not take it to the people, and it is going to cost her members dearly. (Time expired)

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