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Monday, 4 July 2011
Page: 7325

Carbon Pricing

Mr BRUCE SCOTT ( Maranoa — Second Deputy Speaker ) ( 14: 43 ): My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to the fact that the residents of Wandoan in my electorate have all their goods delivered by truck. Will the fuel used in the trucks be exempt from the carbon tax or will the residents of Wandoan bear the burden of a carbon tax on fuel while their city counterparts do not?

Mr SWAN ( Lilley — Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer ) ( 14:45 ): I thank the member for Maranoa for his question. As the Assistant Treasurer said before, all fuel, including petrol, diesel and LPG for passenger motor vehicles and light comm­ercial vehicles, will not be subject to a carbon price. He went on to make the point that, when it came to heavy vehicles, we would be revealing further details when we have completed our decisions on the emissions trading scheme. He made that very clear as well.

I would like to say a few things about carbon pricing, and I will refer those comments to rural and regional Queensland in particular. No part of our country will benefit more greatly from a price on carbon than regional and rural Queensland because no part of our country will be more affected by the impacts of dangerous climate change than parts of regional Queensland, which will feel those impacts particularly in agriculture. It is imperative that all of us in this parliament do something about carbon pollution and put in place a solution for the future which secures the environment for our great state, including regional areas but not just regional areas—there is the Great Barrier Reef, for example.

There is a rolled gold case to put a price on carbon if you are a Queenslander. The area that the member for Maranoa asks about is a great coal producing region. We on this side of the House see a bright future for coal in this country. We understand that we need a price on carbon to drive the investment in renewable energy and cleaner—

Mr Christensen: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I am not sure what mining has to do with a question about the carbon tax on diesel for trucks in Wandoan. Can the Treasurer please be relevant?

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer has the call and he is aware of the requirement to be directly relevant to the question.

Mr SWAN: Mr Speaker, I was asked about the town of Wandoan, which I know. I was asked about that region. Not only is it a great agricultural region; it produces coal as well. People who live there depend for their living on one or the other of those industries. They will receive the assistance which we will put in place for a carbon price. The households there will receive through our scheme additional assistance in terms of tax cuts, in terms of pension increases and also in terms of family payments to compensate for the price impact of a price on carbon. They will all benefit from that—but not only that. It is a great coal producing region and no industry has a greater stake in putting a price on carbon than the coal industry. If we do not move in this area, they will be subject to trade barriers in a carbon constrained world.

The coal industry in this country has a very bright future and it will be even brighter if we price carbon, if we make sure that we drive investment not just in renewable energy but particularly in carbon capture and storage—to get the innovation, to make the future of the industry even brighter and the future brighter in Wandoan for all of the Queenslanders and Australians who live there.