Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency, Industry and Innovation. What are the facts about the actual impact of the carbon price? How do the facts compare with the claims that have been made and can the minister remind the House exactly what is at risk if we do not tackle dangerous climate change?

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for his important question. As we have just heard in the first question in question time, over the last couple of days the Leader of the Opposition, the New South Wales government and the Daily Telegraph have been misleading the public yet again about the impact of carbon pricing. Yesterday it was a false claim about electricity prices in New South Wales. Today the Daily Telegraph is back with ridiculous claims about economic catastrophe, repeated here today in the very first question by the Leader of the Opposition—there seems to be some commonality of approach that we are witnessing. The Telegraph story today takes the misuse of statistics, hysterical headlines and distortion of facts to levels that would have done Pravda proud during the height of the Cold War. That is the fact of the matter. The Telegraph says a record number of companies are going into collapse since carbon pricing. But, as the Prime Minister accurately and validly talked about a moment ago, that number is actually lower than for the previous 12 months when there was no carbon pricing in place.

Indeed, when you look at the economic facts, which is helpful to do from time to time, we have seen nothing but a very strong economic performance since carbon pricing began on 1 July last year. We have seen 134,000 jobs created. As the Prime Minister indicated, that is more 20 every hour since carbon pricing started. We have seen 118,500 new companies started up since carbon pricing came into effect. And the stock market has increased by no less than 25 per cent. Compare that to the terrible doom and gloom that was forecast by the investment adviser sitting in the Leader of the Opposition's chair whose investment advice is accepted by no-one on the opposite side. What a catastrophe all of that represents: GDP growing by two per cent since 1 July; unemployment at 5.4 per cent—one of the lowest levels among the advanced economies; real wages up by 1½ per cent; and consumer sentiment up to a 38-month record high. This is not evidence of the catastrophe prophesied by the Daily Telegraph, or the wrecking ball prophesied by the Leader of the Opposition, or the cobra strike, or the python squeeze or any of the other wrecking balls that were prophesied by those opposite. The fact is that the carbon price is working; emissions are falling and the economy is growing. It is our responsibility to future generations to deal with climate change, and that is what this important reform is doing. Those opposite should recognise the facts.