Less than six months ago the world apparently united at the Glasgow climate conference to end fossil fuels. UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told the conference that “what we want to do is move beyond hydrocarbons completely in the UK and do it as fast as possible.” Now the world is cutting taxes on petrol. Over the past few months the UK, France, Italy, Sweden, Japan, two US states and now Australia have slashed fuel excise. Net zero emissions did not make it from one Christmas to the next.
A recent poll found that 9 in 10 Australians would pay no more than just a cup of coffee a fortnight to reach net zero emissions. The scary thing for Australians is that the Labor party has plans to make you pay a lot more than that to meet their mythical goals.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has been determined to keep himself as a small target, keeping his policy’s fine print in a Pandora’s box marked “not to open until after May!” With a federal election less than 50 days away, it is time to expose what would a Labor-Green government mean?
Labor’s climate policy, released just before Christmas, plans to introduce a new carbon tax on the 215 Australian businesses that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. This tax would work by making these businesses buy more and more carbon credits each year until we get to the so-called net zero. Carbon credits cost money, so this is just another form of a carbon tax.
Who are these 215 unlucky businesses? Well, two of them are Australia’s last two oil refiners, at Brisbane and Geelong. If you thought petrol prices are high today, wait until a Labor-Green Government puts a tax on the production of petrol.
Labor’s policy also risks making us completely dependent on imported petrol at a time when China plans to build military basis in the Pacific. The Australian Government has supported our oil refiners during the tough times of the COVID pandemic so we can protect our national security. Labor plans to tax them.
Other businesses on Labor’s carbon tax hit list include every major mine in Australia. Labor’s taxes will hit businesses that employ over 35,000 Queenslanders. These include the 1500 Queenslanders employed at the Caval Ridge coal mine near Moranbah, the 3200 Queenslanders employed at Mount Isa Mines and the more than 10,000 Queenslanders employed in the coal seam gas industry centred at Gladstone.
There are 64 businesses that Labor will tax to appease its green allies. Just one of the businesses that will be taxed is in Sydney.
Once again the Labor party and the Greens are teaming up to hit Queensland’s mining industry which produces the wealth for our nation.
In this week’s budget, the Australian Government provided much needed cost of living relief because many Queensland families are doing it tough due to rising petrol and other prices. The reduction in petrol taxes, increased tax offsets for low and middle income families, and a cost of living payment to pensioners will cost the budget $8.6 billion.
This relief for families is only affordable thanks to the enormous wealth generated by our booming farming and mining industries. Federal Government revenues are projected to increase by $40 billion next financial year, thanks largely to surging commodity prices.
The Labor-Green approach is to tax the jobs that create this wealth for our nation.
Instead, the Liberal National Party thanks the hard working men and women in our primary industries that bring the bacon home for our nation. We want to defend your jobs, not tax them. We do not say thank you enough for your hard work, but this week’s budget is testament to your hard work.
