Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by Senators Wong, Conroy and Evans to questions without notice asked today by Senators Bushby, Joyce and me.

Whatever the issue, whatever the challenge, whatever needs to be done, the only answer that the Labor Party has got is to whack on another tax: 'When people drink too much, let's whack on an alcopops tax. When there is a two-speed economy with the mining industry in the fast lane, let's whack on a mining tax. When there are too many global greenhouse emissions, let's whack on a tax on carbon dioxide emissions in Australia. ' Well, I have got some information for the Labor Party. Whacking on another tax—tax, tax, tax—is not the only way that you can actually resolve policy challenges that we face as a nation.

We know that this Labor government has a terrible record when it comes to the management of our public finances. It is a Labor government that has delivered deficit after deficit—nine consecutive deficits. It is a Labor government that is not able to live within its means. It is a Labor government that is addicted to spending. Of course, to feed that spending addiction, they have to come up with one new tax after another—and the carbon tax is no different.

You would think that whacking on another tax would get the government to a position where they would actually be able to balance the books, but no. Only the Labor Party can come up with another tax that raises $11 billion every year and still have a budget that is $4 billion worse off. Only the Labor Party can come up with a mining tax which is supposed to raise $38.5 billion over 10 years but leave the budget $20 billion worse off over the same period—because the related budget commitments are conservatively estimated to be at least $57.6 billion. No wonder the country's finances are in such disarray under Labor Party administrations. The Labor Party are always trying to catch up to fund their reckless spending left, right and centre. Whenever they come up with another tax that they think might get them into striking distance of bringing the budget back into surplus they spend so much money on other things—because they have to do so many little deals to get their bad changes through the parliament—that the budget actually ends up in a worse position than where it started.

The proposed carbon tax is, of course, bad policy for Australia. The reason it is bad policy for Australia is that it will make Australian business less competitive, it will push up the cost of everything and everyday Australians will face significant additional challenges in terms of cost-of-living pressures—and all of that without actually helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All we will do by putting a price on carbon in Australia through a carbon tax when none of our trade competitors are proposing to put a carbon tax in place is make overseas polluters more competitive than even the most environmentally efficient businesses here in Australia.

We have a Labor Party that is going left, right, left, right depending on where the public pressure comes from at any point in time. They change their position all time. Petrol is in then petrol is out. The carbon tax is going to apply to 1,000 companies and then it is going to apply to 500 companies. One day they are going to ban cattle exports and then they are not going to ban them. One day they think offshore processing of asylum seekers is a terrible thing and then they are trying to do a deal with Malaysia on offshore processing. One day they say they would never do a deal with a country that is not part of the United Nations convention on refugees and then they do one. This government is all over the place depending on where the pressure is coming from at a particular time.

We found out here in question time again today that the pressure right now is coming from the Greens. This is a government that deceived the Australian people in the lead-up to the last election, and it was not just the Prime Minister; every single Labor member elected to the House of Representatives or the Senate at the last election was elected on a promise that there would be no carbon tax under a government led by Julia Gillard. Of course, now there will be. Why? Because the Greens want it. Now, here we have the Prime Minister doing a cosy deal exclusively and in secret with Senator Bob Brown and a number of other people in this secret little committee. And the Labor caucus has been left in the dark. Senator Bushby quite appropriately referred to them as being treated like mushrooms. Senator Cameron had a very eloquent description of the way Labor senators were treated—I think he may have used the words 'lobotomised zombies', or something like that.

I would not normally quote Senator Cameron but the point is that the Australian people are about to be lambasted with a carbon tax, which will be bad for them— (Time expired)