Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment. I remind the minister of the Queensland Competition Authority's report published last Friday that the state's power prices will be around eight per cent higher on 1 July if the carbon tax remains in place. Why must the carbon tax be repealed as soon as possible and who is standing in the way?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for McPherson for what is a very timely question. Today we have seen the opposition rediscover a love of truth in election promises and rediscover a concern about cost of living. It is a very interesting proposition, because you will remember that before the election they suddenly decided to terminate the carbon tax. Why would they have wanted to terminate the carbon tax? They wanted to do it because they believed that it would lower prices. They wanted to do it because they believed that it was hurting families. They wanted to do it because they believed that it was hurting small business. Well, if you are concerned today about cost of living and if you are concerned today about so-called truth in election promises, start by making yourselves honest and start by giving Australian families a $550 a year reduction in taxes. Right now, we can reduce the cost of living for Australian families by $550.

These are the people opposite who before the election would talk like Liberals and after the election vote like Greens. When it came to terminating the carbon tax, what was it that they did? They voted to keep the carbon tax. What occurs on 1 July is that the carbon tax goes up by five per cent. What will occur as a consequence of that? There will be more pressure on electricity, more pressure on gas, more pressure on refrigeration, more pressure on fuels and more pressure on Australian families and businesses. So what we know is this: if you want to save Australian families $550, let's do what the ALP said before the election and terminate the carbon tax. That is what they said. That is what they can do. And I want to make this statement: that we will be bringing back the carbon tax legislation in time for the Senate to consider it in the first two weeks of the new sittings, but if the ALP is willing to give an iron-clad guarantee, as they did before the election, that they would terminate the carbon tax, we will bring it back earlier.

Most interestingly, we saw the impact of that with the Queensland Competition Authority's announcement last week. They set out two tariffs, one with the carbon tax and one without, and the difference was this: it was a difference, just in electricity terms, of $178 for a family of four without the carbon tax, and $246 a year for a family of six without the carbon tax. So, if you want to reduce the cost of living, get out of the way; stand with us and abolish the carbon tax, and stand for what you said before the election and terminate the carbon tax.