Airlines just the first off the carbon tax rank

03/02/12

The Hon Warren Truss MP
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport

Qantas may be the first of the airlines to foreshadow dramatic price hikes under the looming carbon tax but it won’t be the last, Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Warren Truss warned today.

“This is just a taste of things to come,” he said. “Other airlines will soon follow with price increases for their carbon tax-affected forward bookings from 1 July. The announcement by Qantas demonstrates the carbon tax hit is already being calculated by Australian companies.

“We’ve known all along that the Gillard government’s carbon tax whack against Australian companies will be passed on to consumers. In Qantas’ case, the carbon tax represents a $100-$115 million whack in 2012-13 alone and passengers will pick up the tab.

“I would expect more Australian businesses to be making similar announcements a long way ahead of July to brace consumers for the inevitable slugs coming their way. This is precisely what the carbon tax is designed to do – hit Australian families and hit them hard in the name of Bob Brown’s ideological dogma.

“Of course, the extra hit for Qantas passengers, in isolation, is something many will try to rationalise. But it’s the cumulative impact of repeated hits across a broad range of goods and services – groceries, electricity, gas – that dramatically add to cost-of-living pressures that hurt families financially or simply see them go without.

“But the pain doesn’t stop with this fare increase. With Labor’s $23 per tonne carbon tax going up next year and again the year after that, there will be no relief for families copping this insidious and, ultimately, pointless tax. The pain just compounds each year.

“The added hidden hardship exposed today is the Gillard government’s set against people in regional areas who, typically, have to fly further as a matter of course, be it for healthcare, family reunions, schooling or holidays.

“With these price hikes kicking in on a sliding per kilometer scale, regional Australians will feel the hits hardest or be forced to restrict their travel.

“The tourism industry will be struck a further blow as it will cost more to fly to Australia from Europe and to tourist destinations around the country.”