Carbon Tax will devastate regional Australia
20-September-2011
The proposed carbon tax will devastate families, business and industry throughout the Parkes electorate, Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has warned Parliament.
During the debate over the carbon tax legislation in the House of Representatives, Mr Coulton said the rush to implement this ill-conceived scheme will cost local jobs, send industry offshore and drive up the price of food and electricity.
“I am opposed to this legislation because regional Australia will have an economic downturn of 20 per cent in comparison with urban areas which will experience a downturn of 8 per cent.”
“The Clean Energy Bill 2011 and related bills have no mandate. These bills will send Australian jobs offshore. These bills will have no global or local environmental benefit.”
Mr Coulton stated the potential ramifications of implementing such a flawed piece of legislation made it the most significant bill to ever come before Parliament.
“This carbon tax is the largest single change to the Australian economy that we have seen in a lifetime. This legislation will have a devastating effect on Australian citizens and Australian business, particularly small business.”
“This legislation is based on a false ideology. Australians do want to help the environment. Australians do care about the future of their children and their grandchildren. However, these bills will not have any beneficial effect on the environment but they will hamper our children and our grandchildren in their ability to be competitive with the rest of the world.”
“If this country sinks into financial oblivion because of the impost placed by this tax, our country, our children and our grandchildren will not be in a position to undertake any environmental improvements because of the financial impost. They will be at a disadvantage to the rest of the world.”
Mr Coulton criticised the comments of Government Members when debating the carbon tax legislation and also used his time to emphasize that the Independent MP’s Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott should not support this Bill.
“This legislation is going to have no environmental effect. We have heard from others in this debate that we have to catch up with the rest of the world. Between 2005 and 2011, the EU's emissions trading scheme raised $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion. That operates in over 30 countries, including 27 members of the EU plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway.
“The Australian carbon tax, which we are speaking about now and will vote on, will be the most punitive tax in the world, raising an estimated $71 billion in the first six and a half years.”
“Why would the member for New England and the member for Lyne support legislation that was clearly going to be detrimental to the economies of their electorates.”
“This House has turned its back on this tax twice before. It is not too late to save Australia from this tax yet again.”
Mr Coulton said he could never support a piece of legislation that had the potential to tear apart the social and economic fabric of the Parkes electorate.
“A farmer in my electorate who wants to produce a tonne of grain and process it into bread or stockfeed will pay a tax; while a farmer somewhere else in the world will not. If you dig up a tonne of coal at Mudgee in my electorate and mix it with a tonne of iron ore and make a product here in Australia, there will be a tax; however, if I want to put those minerals on a ship and send them to China to get them to make it and send it back to us, there will be no tax.”
“This is, indeed, an historic occasion, but I suggest that we do not want to get too far ahead of ourselves. This is the third time I have spoken on this subject in this place. On the previous two occasions that I spoke, the members of the government and the more recent Greens member had breathless anticipation of worldwide change, but it did not quite happen—so we have not got there yet. Do not count your chickens until they hatch.”
“As I said in my very first speech on the subject, in 2008, this is going to have a devastating effect on the Australian economy.”