Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We saw the Treasurer this morning indicate his concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could cut Australia's supplies of oil and fertiliser. But this begs the question about why the Treasurer and his government are imposing a carbon tax on the production of oil and fertilisers in this country. If the Labor Party were serious about securing our supplies of oil and fertiliser, they would remove the carbon tax—the so-called safeguard mechanism—from these essential suppliers of oil and fertiliser.

Right now we only have two fuel refineries left in the country, in Brisbane and Geelong, and both of those refineries are subject to Labor's carbon tax. Those refineries respectively emit around 600,000 and 800,000 tonnes a year in Brisbane and Geelong respectively. Because of Labor's carbon tax, they are required to reduce those emissions by roughly five per cent—4.9 per cent—each year, year on year, cumulatively. For this year, that means a reduction of 30,000 tonnes at the refinery in Brisbane and 44,000 tonnes at the refinery at Geelong. To do that, those facilities have to buy things called carbon credits to offset the emissions as required under Labor's carbon tax. Those cost around $35 a tonne, so the cost to the refineries in both Brisbane and Geelong is over a million dollars a year, and it gets a lot worse very quickly. Because it's a five per cent reduction every year, 10 per cent in the second year and 15 per cent in the third, by 2030 both of the refineries we have left will be up for a $10 million bill at those carbon prices per year—per year! If the government were serious about securing oil, securing our fuel security, they'd remove the carbon tax on the production of oil in Australia for Australians so Australians can keep moving.