21 questions for Kevin Rudd on Labor’s CPRS tax
23rd November, 2009
Last week the Prime Minister asked the Opposition for questions on Labor’s flawed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme tax, but the sad reality is that no-one in the Government is ever willing to defend the scheme when questions are put to them.The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, said parliamentary Question Time has descended into a farce under Kevin Rudd, with his ministers trained by Labor Party spin doctors not to answer questions.
“The Prime Minister abuses the Parliament and the Australian people by resorting to spin and dense bureaucratic jargon when answering any question that is asked of him,” Mr Truss said.
“Mr Rudd rarely makes any relevant or meaningful response during Question Time. But if the Prime Minister has such an appetite for questions on Labor's defective CPRS tax, I challenge him to answer (for a start) the following 21 questions truthfully.”
1. How many jobs will be lost in regional Australia under Labor’s CPRS?
2. What impact will the closure of mines under Labor’s CPRS have on the economy of regional communities?
3. Will Mr Rudd explain why it is necessary to tax families and businesses and pay billions of dollars in compensation to industry to reduce the temperature?
4. Will Mr Rudd explain what will be the impact of the CPRS on inflation as prices and household costs increase?
5. How much more will a working family pay for electricity, groceries and transport after Labor’s CPRS is introduced?
6. How much more will pensioners and self-funded retirees pay for electricity, groceries and transport under Labor's CPRS tax?
7. How much more will it cost to use a taxi or an electric train because of Labor's CPRS?
8. How many jobs will be lost in the tourism and hospitality industries as travel in Australia becomes more expensive under Labor’s CPRS?
9. Why should people who holiday in Australia pay CPRS taxes when those who travel overseas do not?
10. How many industries will leave Australia because of the extra cost to business for electricity, fuel and freight under Labor's CPRS tax?
11. Why can’t Australia’s farmers claim the same credits for their carbon abatement activities as their competitors in other countries?
12. If low income people, wage and salary earners are to receive compensation for the higher cost of living under the CPRS, why will they reduce their carbon emissions?
13. Why does the CPRS not give credits to householders who use less electricity by switching to energy efficient appliances, motor vehicles etc?
14. How much CPRS tax will Mr Rudd pay personally, given he lives in taxpayer- funded residences in Canberra and Sydney and has a fleet of taxpayer-funded vehicles and jets at his disposal?
15. How will Labor’s CPRS tax stop global climate change since Australia only produces 1.4% of carbon emissions?
16. How will the CPRS help the environment if it forces Australian industry to move to other countries where environmental regulations are not as strict as our own?
17. How much money is Australia expecting to pay to any international fund under an international climate change agreement?
18. What action does the Government propose to take to protect Australian industry paying CPRS taxes from imports produced in countries which do not tax carbon emissions?
19. Why does Mr Rudd want to force a decision on the CPRS tax now, when he has already proposed to delay the scheme’s introduction until 2011?
20. Why does Mr Rudd want to force the CPRS tax through the Parliament before the Copenhagen conference, when other nations have not yet agreed to their own schemes and international bodies are still yet to reach any agreement on the design of such schemes?
21. Will the Government change its CPRS after Copenhagen or if a global ETS is negotiated?
“The Rudd Labor Government had no hesitation in spending millions of taxpayer dollars ‘to explain’ its cash giveaways and Julia Gillard memorial school assembly halls, but it will not defend its CPRS tax.
“Labor knows that voters who actually understand the CPRS will not support it. That is why Mr Rudd and Labor refuse to respond to these questions with a straight and honest answer.
“At the last election, Kevin Rudd and Labor promised to lower the cost of living for working families, but the truth is Labor’s CPRS tax will put up prices and cost jobs – and Kevin Rudd knows it,” Mr Truss said.
