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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Senator Wong. I refer the minister to the 2012 edition of KPMG's Guide to International Business Location Costs, the most thorough comparison of international business location costs ever undertaken by KPMG. Is the minister aware that that study found that, between 2010 and 2012, the cost of doing business in Australia went up by nearly six per cent while it came down in all other developed nations studied, except Japan? Is the minister also aware that the study found that the cost of doing business in Australia is now 3.7 per cent higher than that in the US, while Canada and all European nations studied were as competitive or more competitive than the US? Why is the Gillard government pressing ahead with world's biggest carbon tax when it will push up the cost of doing business in Australia even further and when independent objective analysis is showing that Australia is already losing its competitive edge against its international competitors?