Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister assure the House that the benefits from the repeal of the carbon tax will be passed on to consumers? What stands in the way of this cost-of-living relief for households in my electorate of Dobell?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dobell for her question. I regret to inform her that members opposite, the Labor Party, gave Australia the world's biggest carbon tax and, thanks to members opposite, the world's biggest carbon tax just goes up. It just goes up by five per cent next Tuesday—unless, of course, the Leader of the Opposition has a change of heart and it is repealed.

This is the carbon tax that the Labor Party was never going to introduce in the first place. This is the carbon tax that members opposite said they were going to terminate before the election. This is the carbon tax which is just going to go up by five per cent next Tuesday unless, of course, it is repealed in the meantime.

For the people of Dobell, the carbon tax is a nine per cent impost on their power bills. It is a $9 billion handbrake on our economy. And it is a $550-a-year hit on every single household in Dobell and on every single household, on average, right around Australia. Repealing the carbon tax will be good for every single business and every single household in the electorate of Dobell.

I can say that the carbon tax repeal legislation does provide the ACCC with new powers to ensure that consumers immediately benefit from the repeal of this toxic tax. This government has given the ACCC an extra $10 million to police the price effects of the repeal of this tax. The Chairman of the ACCC, Rod Sims, has said, 'What went up will clearly come down when you take away the carbon tax.' Mr Sims went on to say:

Electricity prices went up fairly quickly on the way up and they will go down fairly immediately on the way down.

And Origin Energy said:

If and when the carbon price is removed as an input cost to energy bills, then Origin will pass on this benefit to consumers as soon as practicable …

So get rid of the carbon tax and power prices go down.

There is only one person standing in the way of lower power bills, and that is the Leader of the Opposition. Every time your power bill goes up, the Leader of the Opposition has a smile on his face because that is just the carbon tax doing its job. Every time you turn on the heater this winter, there is the Leader of the Opposition trying to make it more expensive—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my left!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

unless, of course, he has a change of heart, finally gets the message and votes to repeal this toxic tax.