House debates

Thursday, 21 November 2013

Bills

Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2013, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013, True-up Shortfall Levy (General) (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013, True-up Shortfall Levy (Excise) (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013, Climate Change Authority (Abolition) Bill 2013, Customs Tariff Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013, Excise Tariff Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013, Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates and Other Amendments) Bill 2013, Clean Energy Finance Corporation (Abolition) Bill 2013; Consideration in Detail

3:51 pm

Photo of George ChristensenGeorge Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Just like the IPCC report is not peer reviewed—it is not, mate. The reports that come out are not peer reviewed. This is a document by real climate scientists who say that there is doubt about the science and the so-called science that we hear that is out there. But I want to get onto the economics because this is an area where the facts really are indisputable, and we do not need peer reviews to know that. The member who spoke before mentioned raised Professor Garnaut. Well, Professor Garnaut had an interesting quote from his report when he dreamed this whole mess up for the Labor Party. What he said was:

Regional communities and industries are likely to be more vulnerable to these impacts than urban centres, due to their reliance on agriculture and other natural resource-based industries.

He is right because in my electorate there is mining, agriculture and tourism, and this tax is suffocating all three industries.

In mining the picture is very bleak. We have had 9,000 jobs cut across Queensland and New South Wales, many of them in the Bowen Basin, over the last 18 months. There is an undeniable link between the carbon tax and those job losses. Rio Tinto called it an unfair tax on Australian exporters. It is equally devastating for farmers in my electorate. Cane growers have come out against it, saying it adds significantly to the costs to the bottom line of cane farming businesses. The Queensland horticulture based body Grocom also predicted that a carbon emissions trading scheme—which these guys want this carbon tax to evolve into—could raise farm costs by about 1.15 per cent by 2020. Any addition to the bottom line of farms is not a good thing and it risks farmers going to the wall. Tourism is equally at risk. A new study by AEC Group research, commissioned by Tourism Accommodation Australia, estimates that the carbon tax will add $115 million in costs to hotels and motels. So three industries in my electorate are going to be hit, and hit hard.

Labor's carbon tax is just wrong. It is probably wrong on the science. It is definitely wrong on the economics. I urge every member of the House to distinguish between the two. Enough of the hot air. Let's get rid of this dreadful carbon tax.

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