Transcripts

“FAR from winning hearts and minds, the Prime Minister is plunging her carbon tax dagger into the livelihoods of the regional communities she has betrayed, with workers and employers united in their pain and anger,” Leader of The Nationals Warren Truss said today at the LNP Convention in Brisbane.

 

“To a man and woman, the people I’ve met over the past week know the carbon tax is a job killer. They know prices they pay for everything will increase, and again next year, and the one after that, before an emissions trading scheme kicks in and promises of short-term compensation are long forgotten.

 

“Over recent days I have met with small business owners, employees, manufacturers, retailers, tourism operators, miners, families and retirees – people who live in cities and small regional communities who now face a more expensive, less competitive and increasingly uncertain future.

 

“In the wake of the carbon tax, the two abattoirs I visited face a 10% slug on their electricity bills, forcing them to somehow conjure over $250,000 each in extra bills over the first year alone. Electricity costs continue to rise after that. Add the tax hit on diesel and it’s no wonder managers and hundreds of employees are shaking their heads in disbelief and frustration.

 

“I met a local boat manufacturer. He and his staff are enthusiastic about producing world-class vessels, up to 50 meters long, for luxury and professional markets. The luxury boat market is in the doldrums and the company relies on government contracts, such as for rescue and police vessels, as well as the international luxury market.

 

“The carbon tax will make the overseas market significantly harder to crack, exponentially adding to production costs for raw materials. So this small Aussie company now risks losing future contracts to cheaper imports from countries that do not have a carbon tax.

 

“Further, with everything trucked to and from the factory, the reduction in fuel tax credits for heavy vehicles by almost 7 cents per litre makes the business even less competitive.

 

“I have met coal miners who are rightly proud of what they do in powering this nation’s growth, but now they feel ostracized and betrayed.

 

“With the Greens calling the shots, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has reportedly dismissed these people and their livelihoods saying ‘small towns that are based on fossil fuels probably won’t exist’. The implication is she thinks that’s a good thing, as do Ms Gillard and Messrs Oakeshott, Windsor and Wilkie.

 

“I have met people who are proud of their businesses, proud of what they produce and proud of their towns. All will cop the brunt of the carbon tax and, because they are regional businesses, they will feel it harder than most as costs spiral higher than in the cities.

 

“Everywhere people are angry and frustrated.

 

‘The Prime Minister doesn’t have a mandate’, ‘she’s doing the bidding of the Greens so she can hang on to power’, ‘if she had any integrity she’d call an election and let the people decide’, and ‘her tax will destroy small regional businesses and this country’.

 

“These words are reverberating across a nation that feels betrayed and shut out.”