Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I take the minister to section 60K. It talks about false or misleading representations about the effect of the carbon tax repeal on prices. The other provisions you talk about are infringements. What you are doing here is a complete misleading of this Senate, because the only thing that these companies can actually be held to account for is if they make false or misleading representations about the effect of the carbon repeal. There is no legal obligation for any of those companies to take any price of carbon impost off. Show me some other part of this legislation, because it does not exist. All it is saying is: if any company makes a false or misleading statement about the effect of the repeal of the carbon price, that would be captured by the ACCC provisions and the penalties. That is not my point.

You have just said it in here yourself. I can tell you that you will have set the cats and dogs running out there, because you have now said that airlines, supermarkets, landfill operators, people who sell clothing and people who supply rental properties do have a legal obligation to take the price off carbon and that if they do not they will be subject to penalties. That is what you have told this Senate and it is wrong. It is not in the bill. So all this talk about how the community is going to benefit and that you are going to force all these people to do things is a load of nonsense—it is not here.