John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to the debate on the closure of Cement Australia’s works at Rockhampton. In their media release they clearly say:

The Federal Government’s determination to pass the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme has meant the long term prospects for the plant have been undermined so the business has taken a decision to resolve the matter in fairness to our employees.

They say it clearly:

… the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme has meant the long term prospects for the plant have been undermined …

The cement industry is a vital industry in Australia. We have some 15 plants, employing some 1,870 people. The cement industry produces around 10 million tonnes of cement a year. We also import two million tonnes. We know that the cement industry is a large emitter of greenhouse gases—not from being a large user of electricity but simply from firing their kilns in the production of cement. In fact, in Australia we produce 0.8 of a tonne of greenhouse gases for every tonne of cement that we manufacture, so in total Australia produces eight million tonnes of greenhouse gases when manufacturing our 10 million tonnes of cement. But, as I said, two million tonnes of cement are also imported.

Let us have a look at China. China produces a massive one billion tonnes of cement a year. But here is the catch: when China produces one tonne of cement it produces 1.1 tonnes of greenhouse gases, compared to our 0.8 of a tonne of greenhouse gases. So what is the end result? It is as clear as the nose on your face. When our industry shuts down in Australia, we will import cement from China. So instead of producing eight million tonnes of greenhouse gas in Australia in manufacturing our 10 million tonnes of cement, we will import 10 million tonnes of cement from China, which will produce 11 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. That is the problem with the emissions trading scheme that is coupled with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme that Minister Wong is proposing. We will shut down our cement industry here, lose our jobs and produce an extra three million tonnes of greenhouse gases. How farcical is that? This is what the nation faces under the proposed emissions trading scheme.

Sure there is a big discount for the cement industry—some 90-odd per cent—but as time goes on and we approach the deadline in 2020 and the targets have been met for that year, those discounts will be wound down. The permits the government will be selling will be reduced—that is how a cap-and-trade scheme works—and the industry will come under further threat. This is the huge concern we have for our cement industry.

Communities like Kandos in New South Wales rely on those jobs for their survival, their livelihoods. What happens when the plants are shut down? What do these people do? Where do they get a job? How do they pay their mortgage? How do they pay for their car? How do they clothe their children to send them off to school? This is a serious issue. Today, unfortunately, is the first piece of bad news in the cement industry, but we are going to see more of it as time goes by. The government must realise that their proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme—and I hate using that term ‘carbon pollution’, because carbon is not a pollutant; if you look at the list of the 93 pollutants that exist, carbon is not mentioned—will threaten industries if they proceed with it. As I said, Cement Australia are saying that the threat of this is enough to undermine their confidence in the industry and hence has caused the closing of their plant.

What are we going to do when we shut up so many of these industries and lose these jobs? Are we simply going to import everything? What will our balance of payments figures be like then? They are just going to tag them onto the foreign debt to balance the monthly current account figures. I wish the government would reconsider the damage they are causing to industries here in Australia. We have already seen too many of our industries move overseas for reasons of cheap labour, to get the products here more cheaply. Australians cannot compete against that cheap labour, especially in Asian countries. But, no, the government are going to continue on their road. This is the start of it. Let us hope that some common sense is brought to this debate before job after job is lost in not only the cement industry but many other industries around the nation.

Question agreed to.