Tony Abbott Doorstop - Julia Gillard’s carbon tax; rising electricity prices; Dalai Lama’s visit to Australia

14/06/11

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR,

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

WATSON, ACT

Subjects: Julia Gillard’s carbon tax; rising electricity prices; Dalai Lama’s visit to Australia.

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

TONY ABBOTT:

It’s good to be here on the outskirts of Canberra at this new housing development along with my friend and colleague, the shadow minister Greg Hunt. This is typical of the entry level housing which is going to go up and up in price as a result of the Prime Minister’s carbon tax. The Housing Industry Association has estimated that the average price of a new house will go up by $6,000 as a result of the carbon tax. They’ve estimated that this will add almost $13,000 to mortgage repayments over the life of a typical mortgage or close to $50 a month in repayments. Now, there are a lot of families in Australia that are under very considerable cost of living pressure and this is the last thing they need. I think we should be helping families, not hurting them and the carbon tax is going to hurt families big time.

Now, it’s not just the housing industry which is going to be under very serious pressure from the carbon tax. There are new reports today of the damage that a carbon tax will do to the coal industry which is our major export industry and I say to Labor members of parliament who take jobs seriously, Labor members of parliament who represent coal mining seats, who represent manufacturing industry seats, they should stand up for jobs in their electorates and they should stop making excuses for this toxic tax. They should stop making excuses for a Prime Minister who is floundering and they should start speaking up on behalf of jobs and workers in their electorates.

Now, before I throw to questions, I’ll just ask Greg if he’s got something to add.

GREG HUNT:

There’s a triple whammy for families. Firstly, the cost of housing will go up by $6,000 a house on average. Secondly, the electricity you use in that house is going to go up and skyrocket and thirdly, today, now we know that the cost of groceries that you bring into the house will also go up. The Prime Minister has a very simple task this week. Answer the question – does she want the price of housing to go up or down? Does she want the price of electricity to go up or down? Does she want the price of groceries to go up or down?

TONY ABBOTT:

Ok. Are there any questions?

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, you’ve said previously that you would repeal the carbon tax if you win the next election and the compensation with it. Would you also repeal a permanent increase to the pension or would you consider tweaking your paid parental leave policy to fund that rise?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, all of this is entirely hypothetical. It’s based on more speculative stories put out by a government which is utterly untrustworthy. You cannot believe anything this government says. Don’t forget that it was this Prime Minister who said six days before the last election “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead” and plainly, that was utterly deceptive. The one thing that the Australian people need to remember is that the tax will be permanent, the compensation will be temporary. Whatever level the tax starts at, it will just go up and up and up and there is no compensation whatsoever that will keep pace with a tax that is ever increasing.

QUESTION:

But Greg Combet said at the Press Club that the compensation would actually be permanent so will you unwind the permanent increase to the pension or not?

TONY ABBOTT:

Why should we believe Greg Combet’s assurances when we couldn’t believe the assurances of the Prime Minister before the election?

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, what’s a bigger priority for you, then? A more generous paid parental leave scheme, or an increase to pensioners?

TONY ABBOTT:

I want to do the right thing by pensioners and by families and a decent paid parental leave scheme is helping families, a carbon tax is hurting families. That’s why I’m in favour of a decent paid parental leave scheme. I’m dead against this toxic carbon tax.

QUESTION:

And you are dead against any compensation that goes with the carbon tax?

TONY ABBOTT:

If you don’t have the tax, you don’t need the compensation and you just can’t believe the promises that this government makes.

QUESTION:

So you are committed to your paid parental leave scheme, then?

TONY ABBOTT:

It’s a very, very good policy and I am completely committed to it. The Coalition is completely committed to it.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, you said over the weekend that Nauru signing up to the UN convention on refugees was imminent yet according to the United Nations, Nauru hasn’t even made an approach yet to the United Nations. Just how imminent is it?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I would invite you to read the statement that the Nauruan Government put out yesterday.

QUESTION:

Can I ask you about IPART today? They’ve said that electricity prices in New South Wales will go up 17 per cent partly as a result of the Government’s solar energy. What’s your reaction to that?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, yes electricity prices are going up and they will go up far, far more under a carbon tax. That’s the problem with a carbon tax, it’s going to make difficult situations worse, much worse and it’s going to get worse and worse, year in, year out, as the carbon tax goes up and up to the levels that will be necessary to drive a shift from coal to gas and ultimately from fossil fuels to renewables. The whole point of a carbon tax is to make the way we live, the way we work much more expensive.

QUESTION:

How was your meeting with the Dalai Lama?

TONY ABBOTT:

It was a good and constructive meeting. It was of course my second meeting with the Dalai Lama and I look forward to continuing to meet with him on his visits to Australia.

QUESTION:

What did you get out of that meeting Mr Abbott?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think an added consciousness of the importance of the spiritual dimension to life and a sense of his commitment to the welfare of the Tibetan people and to trying to build over time, a better and more harmonious world.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, would the Federal Opposition move to disallow the ban on exit fees that the Government has introduced and when would you be planning to do that?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, the point we’ve made about exit fees is that the banks are going to need to recoup their costs one way or another and if it’s not through exit fees it will be through some other way. Now, I don’t particularly like exit fees but we’ve got to understand that the banks are going to need to recoup their costs and the problem with a ban, particularly with an across the board ban is that it could end up making things even harder for struggling first home buyers.

QUESTION:

[Inaudible] disallow that? When and where? In the Senate and this week?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I’ve just said there are problems with what the Government is trying to do and we will make our position crystal clear at the right time.

QUESTION:

Are you trying to disrupt the Government’s agenda in the final two weeks that you have notional control in the Senate?

TONY ABBOTT:

I am trying to promote good policy and I am trying to oppose bad policy.

QUESTION:

You say that prices, house prices are going to go up. The Electrical Trades Union has come out today saying that all their members and plumbers and electricians say they’re actually going to have more jobs, more work to do, it’s going to be a positive thing. So what do you say to them?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I think that the Electrical Trades Union needs to spend more time talking to its members and I think if the trade union movement generally spent more time talking to their members and more time representing their members’ interests and less time making excuses for a bad government, that would be good for them and I think it would be good for Australia generally and I think that on the subject of the carbon tax, the union that’s been the most honest so far is the AWU. Certainly, Paul Howes has I think quite rightly demanded of the Prime Minister that she guarantee not a single job would be lost under her carbon tax and I don’t believe that’s a guarantee that she can give because we had the Minister for Resources Martin Ferguson admitting today that mines would close under the carbon tax. Now, I find it unprecedented that an Australian Government would put in place a policy that will deliberately reduce jobs in a vital industry like mining. Not in an attempt to improve the industry but as part of a wider policy objective and I really think that the message that is going out to the workers of Australia is that this is a government that doesn’t care about their jobs.

QUESTION:

Do you think it’s a bit embarrassing for the Prime Minister that the Dalai Lama thought she was a man?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I wasn’t aware of that.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott there’s been a recent discussion in the UK by the Cameron Conservative Government of removing climate change science being taught on school curriculums. Do you think climate change science should continue to be taught in Australia?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think that the curriculum should be taught in Australia.

Thanks so much.