Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the minister’s efforts to respond to that. I do not think she responded specifically to my questions in terms of the per capita basis. Minister, you indicated that you were not able to take that question on board, even on notice. I am disappointed about that. I know that Senator Milne has amendments before the chair—and she is being patient—but there are a lot of questions that need to be asked. You raised the impact of the CPRS on growth. In terms of the impact of the CPRS, do you agree with a report prepared by the Minerals Council of Australia that said the government’s ETS will reduce forecast employment in Australia’s minerals sector by an estimated 23,510 by 2020 and 66,400 by 2030? The Tasmanian minerals industry is projected to lose 1,050 jobs by 2020 and 2,500 jobs by 2030 under this scheme. Do you agree with that or not?

Secondly and finally, before referring back to Senator Milne—and I may have missed it earlier—I want to ask about the government’s release of its latest projections of Australia’s CO2 emissions and the impact of a CPRS. Have we got the latest figures for the CO2 emissions in terms of forward estimates and in terms of the forecasts between now and 2020 and now and 2050? That would be appreciated and would help inform us. In terms of Tasmania, what is important is that we have undergone a greater transition to renewable and low-carbon energy sources than any other state or territory in Australia over the last decade, certainly during the 1990s. I noticed that according to the TCCI chief economist, Richard Dowling, Tasmania is getting no reward for the advances it has already made on climate change. According to him—and I agree with him entirely:

Tasmania reduced its carbon emission levels by 30 per cent in the 1990s, but this is not acknowledged under the current ETS.

It is my view that that is correct. I would like the minister’s response to that. From a Tassie perspective, we are a renewable energy state, and I would like to know whether we are going to gain any benefit whatsoever under this scheme as a result of the hard work, the good innovative approach and the efforts towards building a renewable energy future. How, from Tasmania’s perspective, are we going to benefit? What we do know is that we will be paying a 16 per cent increase in power costs, while the rest of Australia is paying over 20 per cent—but that is cold comfort.