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Monday, 4 July 2011
Page: 7318

Carbon Pricing

Mr CHRISTENSEN (Dawson) (14:13): My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to her latest promise that the government will exempt petrol from her carbon tax because 'I know what it is like for people to have no choice but to jump in their cars to get places.' Will the Prime Minister now exempt electricity prices from the carbon tax or has she forgotten what it is like for people who have no choice but to turn on their lights, their heaters and their washing machines?

Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:14): In answer to the member's question I would say this: of course I understand that people use electricity for all sorts of daily household purposes, which is why, as we put a price on carbon, we will assist Australian households. Nine out of 10 households will get tax cuts or increases in payments or a combination of both. The vast majority of those households will not see carbon pricing cost them a cent and lower income households will have the benefit of a 20 per cent buffer. It has been referred to in the media as a battler's buffer—that is, they will get 20 per cent more than the impact of carbon pricing on them. I understand that Australian families are struggling with energy bills that have been going up and up without a carbon price. We need to give the electricity generation sector, the distribution sector and the energy sector certainty so that they invest for the future and particularly invest in the clean energy sources of the future.

The member who is showing a concern about cost of living questions may want to think about the alternative. People will see their energy bills go up and the Leader of the Opposition will be ripping $720 a year out of their family budget. That is what the plan of the Leader of the Opposition is: to put a tax on Australian families and give that money to subsidise big polluters. We, on the other hand, are going to cut carbon pollution and tackle climate change by putting a tax on the big polluters, by charging them a price on carbon and using the money raised to assist Australian families who are often struggling to meet big costs like electricity prices. I say to the member he may want to think how his constituents will react to the Leader of the Opposition's plan to rip $720 off them per year.