House debates Questions without Notice
Emissions Trading Scheme
Joe Hockey North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer
3:02 pm
My question is again to the Prime Minister. Given that a police officer and their teacher spouse who each earn $65,000 a year are not fully compensated and are financially worse off under the Prime Minister’s emissions trading scheme, will the Prime Minister inform the House and those families of exactly how much worse off they will be after the introduction of the emissions trading scheme?
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister
If I heard the member for North Sydney’s question correctly, he referred to, I think, a double-income family—am I right? Was it with two children?
Joe Hockey North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer
No, a double-income family.
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister
Oh, a double-income family. Could I draw the honourable member’s attention to the following. Under the household assistance package income levels, medium income levels are defined as: single, $30,000 to $80,000; couples with children, $45,000 to $120,000. The medium-income families will have 50 per cent as much as those families who will receive full assistance. As for other households, they will be receiving some assistance.
The second part of my answer to the question is this: as the member for North Sydney knows and as the Leader of the Opposition knows—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Bruce Billson Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Deregulation, Competition Policy and Sustainable Cities
The 9.4 million residential electricity accounts—how does that add up?
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. He was asked about a specific example, and he should be able to give a specific answer on specific families and individuals.
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition has raised a point of order on relevance. The Prime Minister is responding to the question.
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister
The Leader of the Opposition refers to families in Australia. There are 8.8 million families in Australia; 8.1 million of them will receive compensation under the government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Secondly, they are divided into three sets of income thresholds, as I have just described before. I have also described to him what the compensation arrangements which apply to middle-income earners are.
Can I say finally to the Leader of the Opposition and to the shadow Treasurer, who asked the question: they know as well as anyone else in this place that each individual’s circumstances vis-a-vis other taxation arrangements which were obtained in the individual case and other social security benefits which were obtained in the individual case, are just the individual’s circumstances, and they know it.