Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The carbon tax is a complete shambles. I will repeat that: the carbon tax is a complete shambles. This is a statement which comes from a small business operator in my electorate. It is a fairly strong statement. Most small business operators just want to get on and make a living—generate some income so they can support their families, make sure their children can get to school and make sure they can go on a holiday. That is really their raison d'etre. They do not really want to be sending a clear-cut message to the government that there is something wrong. But this is a statement that came from a small landfill operator in my electorate last week. Just so we get it clear, once again, the quote is: 'The carbon tax is a complete shambles.'

I will explain why. This company spent $15,000 of its hard earned money to try to work out whether it would have liabilities under the carbon tax or not and it wanted to make sure it did the job properly. They went to environmental consultants who had been recommended to them. They also had discussions with the government, with the relevant department. What could they find out after they spent this money? They could find out nothing. It could not be made clear to them what their liabilities would be.

You would think that hitting businesses like this would be bad enough. But one of our local councils, from the Moyne shire, received a letter last week from the government, from the so-called Clean Energy Regulator. It explained to the Moyne Shire Council that it might have liabilities under the carbon tax for its landfill. When Moyne shire got their letter they could not quite understand why they had got it—because they do not have a landfill site. They use the landfill site that the Corangamite shire operates, which is also in my electorate.

I could not help myself. I thought surely I should ring the Corangamite Shire Council to see whether they had received a letter. They had not. Warrnambool City Council and Moyne shire send their landfill to Corangamite shire. Moyne gets a letter saying that it might have liabilities, whereas the shire that operates the landfill does not get one. As you could understand, they were a little confused. I will not repeat for the benefit of the House what my small business operator said about the carbon tax; I think it is quite clear!

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

Give us a hint!

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay, I will. The carbon tax is a complete shambles. There are also issues in Victoria—and I hope the parliamentary secretary gets his head around this—to do with additionality when it comes to how the EPA is operating and how landfill operators are hit by the carbon tax. The Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, Simon Crean, said that these landfill operators would be able to apply for the Carbon Farming Initiative. Because of EPA requirements in Victoria and the concept of additionality it seems that this statement might not be entirely true. This issue of landfill operators is something that needs to be cleared up for local government in Victoria. Otherwise it will eventuate that the small business operator in my electorate was right.

I will touch briefly on another issue. These small landfill operators have to work out what their liabilities will be not just for the next one or two years but for the next decade, which is placing an onerous requirement on them. It brings me back to what a constituent in my electorate said not so long ago. (Time expired)