Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Canada, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey do not have nor plan to introduce an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax. In fact there is no arrangement anywhere in the world which mirrored the economy-wide fixed carbon tax imposed by the Labor government. Until it was repealed today, the carbon tax was a fixed $25.40 per tonne. Even the European Union's emissions trading scheme was only $8 a tonne. Labor's carbon tax was a $7.6 billion hit on the economy in its first year and it did virtually nothing to reduce global greenhouse emissions.

The repeal of the carbon tax today will be a relief to many businesses. I quote from Tourism Accommodation Australia, which has a number of small businesses in its membership. It spoke of profit reductions of up to 12 per cent attributable to increased costs related to the carbon tax. We know that Labor's tax was actually designed to drive up prices and make Australia less competitive. Its own report warned that some regions of Australia would be vulnerable to large-scale loss of livelihood as a result of the implementation of a carbon price. That is not even code. That meant massive job losses attributable to the carbon tax.

This government will take a responsible approach to the issue so that we play our part in protecting the environment without unnecessary and punitive taxes which were so out of step with the rest of the world. Every time energy prices went up under Labor's tax, it increased pressure on our small businesses. That has now gone. We have repealed the tax. We are in line with the rest of the world.

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