Gillard’s gas gaffe
28th June, 2012
LEADER of The Nationals Warren Truss is pointing the finger squarely at Julia Gillard after she gave a completely dishonest answer in Question Time today about a new $549,000 per tonne carbon tax on sulphur hexafluoride.In a bid to weasel out of responsibility for the carbon tax impact on importers of synthetic gases, the Prime Minister implied the costs incurred under her carbon tax were the result of an ozone levy applied by former Howard Government Environment Minister Dr David Kemp in 2003.
But the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities’ sulphur hexafluoride information sheet, makes it clear this is ‘a new carbon charge component based on an equivalent carbon price’.
“From Sunday, Australian importers will pay a $549,000 per tonne carbon tax for the gas, which has specialised electronics and medical procedure applications, including in eye surgery,” Mr Truss explained.
“That’s a far cry from Dr Kemp’s 2003 decision, applying a levy on ozone depleting gases, which was set at a maximum of $165 per tonne.
“Typically, Australian companies import up to 20 tonnes of the gas each year – that’s an added whack, courtesy of the carbon tax, of almost $11 million a year.
“Companies will have no choice but to pass on those massive new costs to consumers.
“That’s on top of the refrigeration and air conditioning industry saying the carbon tax equivalent payments being demanded by the government will cost it $300 million-a-year.
“There is a rotten stench coming from this government’s carbon tax and Julia Gillard is at the centre of it. These new and hidden costs – well beyond the few hundred companies we were told would incur the tax – is creeping up slowly.
“From Sunday, the carbon tax will engulf more and more companies, products and, ultimately, families, swamping them with costs they did not expect and cannot escape.
“And what the government still refuses to admit is that for many products the carbon tax rate is substantially higher than $23 per tonne.”
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