Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to comments by the Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change—

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Did you iron that shirt, Tony?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer the Prime Minister to comments by the Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change on ABC radio this morning regarding the dry cleaner I visited yesterday, who has been excluded from the government’s emissions trading compensation scheme. I quote:

Costs faced by such a business will be passed through in the prices of that dry cleaning business and consumers will meet the cost.

So I ask the Prime Minister: does he agree with his minister’s admission that costs for small businesses and consumers will rise as a direct consequence of his great big new tax on everything?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My position on this is no different to that of John Winston Howard, who said exactly the same. That is, if you impose a price on carbon what happens is it actually has an effect on prices in the economy. The question therefore is: how do you actually compensate? We in our scheme provide compensation directly through for consumers who have any pass-through price effect and, secondly, for businesses themselves we have a $1.97 billion Climate Change Adjustment Program fund, $200 million of which is available for small businesses. That is our policy. It is very clear, because we are putting a cap on carbon, we are charging the big polluters and we are also providing compensation for families. With your policy there is no cap on carbon, you are not charging the polluters and you are putting one huge slug on the taxpayers for a completely unfunded policy.