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

asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice, on 18 August 2011:

With reference to the Treasury Carbon Tax modelling Strong growth, low pollution: Modelling a carbon price:

Given the shapes of the curves in the right-hand panels of Charts 5.10 to 5.13 of the Treasury modelling show the impact of the carbon tax, in percentage deviation terms, continuing to grow at a more or less steady pace, year after year, right through until 2050, for each of Gross National Income (GNI) per person, the capital stock, real wages and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), on this basis:

(1) How much longer will these costs continue to grow like this.

(2) At what level do the equilibrium costs to the levels of GDP, GNI and real wages eventually settle (in percentage deviation terms).

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The left-hand panels of Charts 5.10 to 5.13 of Strong growth, low pollution show the projected levels of gross national income per person, capital stock, real wages and gross domestic product under various policy scenarios, with and without carbon pricing. The right-hand panels of these charts show the marginal impact on these variables of the carbon price relative to what is projected to occur without carbon pricing. In all instances the level of the relevant variable is higher in the future with and without carbon pricing, with carbon pricing having a modest impact on the annual growth of these variables. The carbon price path adopted in the Australian economic modelling is that required to achieve various environmental objectives. Once those environmental objectives are met the carbon price would be expected to stabilise as would the implications for all other economic variables in the projections.