I think it’s very germane at this point to just point out that the government’s reserve—and we haven’t heard otherwise—may be shifted a bit from 17 million tonnes, but it seems like as good a figure as any. Mr Bowen has confirmed that in the media. Even if there has been a shift, it is probably a few million tonnes here or there. That is 17 million tonnes of the 1,233 million tonnes that’s the overall cap for the next seven years. That’s our carbon budget we’re stuck to for manufacturing, for mining and for transport in this country. We can’t do more than that. This is a cap on economic growth. Let’s be clear what the government has confirmed tonight: it’s a cap on Australia’s economic prosperity, it’s a cap on our economic growth and it’s a cap on our ability to make things and manufacture things in this country. We can’t exceed this cap. They’re going to put it in law. It’s stuck.
Okay, to give the government their due, they have put a reserve in it. They have been very generous and put a reserve to account for some growth. Well, 17 million tonnes out of 1,233 million tonnes—guess what that works out to? 1.3 per cent. We can grow 1.3 per cent over the next seven years. How good is that! You think we’d like our economic growth to be somewhere around three or four. You’d like that to be the case. You’d hope and pray that we can offer the Australian people increasing real wages and living standards over time. Keep in mind that, if we don’t grow as an economy, your real wages won’t go up, your living standards won’t go up, things will get more expensive and you won’t get paid more.
What the government is saying is that now the only thing you can expect is a 1.3 per cent increase in your living standards over seven years—seven years! This was a mob that came to power by saying they’re going to make your life easier, they’re going to cut power prices and they’re going to increase real wages. And here tonight they’re putting in a cap on your living standards, a cap on what you can afford. We’ve had that confirmed tonight by the minister, unless she can say otherwise. Unless she can tell us what the other figure is here, it is 17 million tonnes out of 1.2 billion, and that’s 1.3 per cent over seven years. That’s not 1.3 per cent a year, by the way; it’s 1.3 per cent for seven years. So let’s just work that out. It’s 1.3 per cent over seven years, so the growth per year is a whole 0.18 per cent. Every year you can grow and your life can get better by 0.18 per cent. So, if you’re earning 100 grand at the moment, you can thank your lucky stars and you will get a pay increase of—let me work this out. I don’t use this calculator very often. I should be able to do this in my head, but I’m getting old! You’ll get a pay increase of $18. You can look forward, under this hard cap, to an $18 a year pay increase! Don’t spend it all at once! That’s my advice. It’s just $18. That’s what they’re doing to us. It’s a hard cap on our economic growth, and that’s what they’ve just admitted here in this place.
I want to go back, though. Minister, one of the answers you gave me was quite revealing. You mentioned that we’ve got a reserve, which you won’t and can’t tell us about. Mr Bowen could tell the ABC how much the reserve is, but he can’t tell a parliament—but it’s about 17 million tonnes. You also mentioned that you’ve got a growth factor in there for new entrants. You’re already projecting some new entrants over the next seven years. My question is: how much is that? You’ve obviously done that work. You’ve admitted you’ve done the calculations. Under that 1,233 million tonne cap, how much, in your calculations, have you factored in for emissions from new entrants until 2030?
