Labor's carbon tax will push up the price of everything

12/04/11

A carbon tax that hits the transport sector will push up the price of every item that Australians buy in every store, Leader of The Nationals, and Coalition Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Warren Truss said in Port Macquarie today.

Mr Truss was speaking at Jim Pearson Transport, the largest private employer in the city.

“This company runs 130 prime movers that distribute supermarket items along the Pacific Highway from Port Macquarie to Brisbane and into south-east Queensland,” Mr Truss said.

“Their monthly fuel bill is $1.6 million.

“If Julia Gillard adds 6.5 cents a litre onto that fuel bill, the impact is obvious.

“It will all end up on your food bills.

“And that’s in addition to the 6.5 cents a litre it will cost everybody every time they get in their own car, and the estimated $300 extra it will cost every family on their household power bill.

“This tax will cascade right through the economy.”

Mr Truss said the price impacts are based on a carbon tax of $26.

He said that price would inevitably go higher as Labor runs out of money again.

It was inevitable that fuel would be included in the carbon tax regime.

It was included in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme of Ms Gillard’s predecessor, Kevin Rudd, which is the template for development of the new package – and the compensation it offered for rising fuel prices was temporary.

The Rudd scheme protected motorists from the fuel price increase for three years by reductions in excise. The transport industry was protected for only one year.

“If Julia Gillard includes fuel in her carbon tax, as seems inevitable, she will try and tell Australians that there will be compensation, and they shouldn’t worry about it.

“But precedent tells us that any relief she might provide will be temporary, at best, and that sooner or later Australians will have to meet the full cost of that tax.”