Tony Abbott Doorstop - Julia Gillard’s carbon tax

30/05/11

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR,

JOINT DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH THE HON. GREG HUNT MHR, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CLIMATE ACTION, ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE,

CANBERRA

Subjects: Julia Gillard’s carbon tax.

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………

TONY ABBOTT:

It’s good to be here at FAW Products. I want to thank Michael Agnew for his hospitality. It’s good to be here with my friend and colleague Greg Hunt, the Shadow Minister for the Environment. I’m going to ask Greg and Michael just to say a few words in a moment, but I have three points that I want to make first.

Now, the first point I want to make is this. How can the Prime Minister expect people to say yes to a carbon tax when she said no to a carbon tax before the election? If the Prime Minister wants people to say yes to a carbon tax, why doesn’t she give us all the chance to say yes or no at an election? Why won’t she seek a mandate for that which she is so eager to pursue with the public? Now, that’s the fundamental point I want to make.

The second point I want to make is that it’s at businesses like this that the impact of the carbon tax is going to be felt. About 80 per cent of the product here – which is essential for the building trade in the ACT and the surrounding region – is locally made. Nearly all of this uses vast quantities of energy in its production. The steel, the plastic, the cement, the aluminium are all very energy intensive – all is going to increase very significantly under a carbon tax. Now, Michael can keep selling much higher priced Australian product or he could go to the cheaper imports. So, not only are you going to have higher prices for buildings but you’re going to see a dramatic contraction in the size of the Australian building products industry under a carbon tax. Of course, not only are the products that Michael sells going to be much more expensive under a carbon tax but his costs are going to go up because he uses diesel, he uses electricity, he uses gas and it seems that the direct costs of this business would go up by $10,000 a year as well as the indirect costs going up vastly under a carbon tax regime.

The final point I want to make is that more and more Australian businesses are saying no to a carbon tax. Today the National Farmers’ Federation for the first time has come out and officially opposed a carbon tax and the figures that the NFF have released suggest that a typical farm will face $12,000 a year on average in higher costs and that’s just under a $20 a tonne carbon tax. So, what this carbon tax means is higher costs for everyone, for consumers, for producers. It means fewer jobs in Australian industry and it means a lot more imports, which is why I say this is a toxic tax and I say to the Prime Minister you cannot in conscience introduce this tax without seeking a mandate from the people. As I said, if she expects people to say yes to this tax she should give the people of Australia a chance to say yes or no to this toxic tax at an election.

So I’m going to ask Greg to say a few words and then ask Michael to say a few words.

GREG HUNT:

This week the Prime Minister should rule out a multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to tell Australians that they need a carbon tax to drive up the cost of their electricity, petrol, gas and groceries. Before the election the Prime Minister was not willing to use the ALP’s funds to argue for a carbon tax. After the election she must explain why she’s willing to use public funds to tell taxpayers that they need to pay higher prices for electricity, petrol, gas and groceries. It would be an abuse of taxpayer funds for such a blatantly political advertising campaign. The Prime Minister should rule out a multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded carbon tax ad campaign this week.

TONY ABBOTT:

Michael?

MICHAEL AGNEW:

I guess there’s a couple of products that are particularly affected with the carbon tax, being cement and cement-based products. I guess if they’re faced with closing factories down it’s not just the people that work in the factories, it’s all the associated, you know, the drivers and the shops and the mechanics and the maintenance people. So, I think it’s going to have a far-reaching effect on a lot more businesses than we might care to think.

TONY ABBOTT:

Thanks, mate. Ok, any questions?

QUESTION:

How do you feel about your old boss John Hewson putting his name to the list supporting the carbon tax?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I have a lot of respect for John. He gave me my start in political life. So, I have a lot of respect for him but I respectfully disagree with him on this subject.

QUESTION:

That’s four former Liberal leaders who are in support of a carbon price – we’re talking about Mr Turnbull, Mr Howard, Mr Hewson, Mr Fraser. Why are you ‘Mr Negativity’ as Mr Hewson called you?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, if you want to have a poll, let’s have an election. I mean, if you want to give me a poll of former Liberal leaders that’s fine, but the real poll is a poll of the Australian public and I think the Prime Minister is running scared of asking the people. She says that she wants people to say yes to a carbon tax. Well, let’s give the people a chance to say yes or no at an election.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott you’re here at a business, but two main business groups have come out this week saying they would be happy for a carbon price if it was around $10 a tonne. Doesn’t this show there is some sort of, you know, wanting from the business community for a carbon tax?

TONY ABBOTT:

No, it doesn’t. It absolutely does not. Calling for a carbon price of $10 a tonne is a massive vote of no confidence in this Government’s climate change policy, a massive vote of no confidence. The point I make is that a carbon price of $10 a tonne, it will hit the public, it will hit Australian jobs but it won’t actually make any difference to our emissions, because, as the Greens keep telling us, it will take a carbon price of $40 a tonne to drive a shift from coal to gas and it will take a carbon price of $100 a tonne to drive a shift to renewables and the one thing we know about the starting price – whether it’s $10, whether it’s $20, whether it’s $26 a tonne, whatever it is – it is going to go up and up and up and up.

QUESTION:

What was your reaction when you saw the ad with Cate Blanchett and Michael Caton in the ad?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I think that people are perfectly entitled to their view but the view of celebrities counts for no more than the view of the Australian public and that’s what the Prime Minister should be seeking: not the view of various celebrities, but the view of the Australian public. That’s why I say if she wants Australians to say yes to a carbon tax she should give them the chance to say yes or no at an election.

QUESTION:

Does that go for wealthy mining executives as well who support some of your policies?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, the point I make is that in the end it’s the people who count – it’s not celebrities, it’s not business executives, it’s not the Prime Minister herself. It’s the people who should determine this.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, Mr Hockey took a veiled stab at Malcolm Turnbull yesterday saying that Liberal Party members should put the team before their own personal ambitions. Is that something you would echo?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I am just going to leave last week’s storm in a teacup in last week.

QUESTION:

Are you confident there’s no infighting within your party?

TONY ABBOTT:

The Liberal Party is a broad church – always have been, always will be. We’re not a Stalinist party the way the Labor Party is but, as I said, I’m just going to let last week be last week.

Thank you.