Abolishing the carbon tax will generate savings to the tune of $31 billion, the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science, Sophie Mirabella told the Airconditioning and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers Association of Australia (AREMA) last week.
Speaking at the AREMA gala dinner in Sydney, Mirabella reiterated the Opposition's commitment to abolishing the tax if it wins the federal election next year.
“At a time of great strain on the federal budget, a crucial consideration you will never hear from our opponents or their media friends is that, by rescinding the carbon tax and the measures associated with it, we can actually reduce misdirected government spending by a mammoth $31 billion over the next four years,” she said.
“The introduction of the carbon tax is just one of many recent policy issues and changes with deep and lasting consequences for your industry.
“For instance I know there has been considerable unease around national occupational licensing; this has already been a very protracted and messy process.
“Within the Coalition, we're frustrated by the confusion and lack of direction in the government's approach to skills and training.
“Australia needs a government that is not only strong and decisive in the actions that it takes – but it should see business not as the enemy but as a generator of jobs and wealth creation.”
Further enforcing the Opposition's post-election agenda, Mirabella read out a personal letter to AREMA attendees from Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
“The Coalition will rescind the carbon tax. It will help to restore confidence in our economy,” Abbott said.
“Australia's manufacturing sector is under enormous strain already. It doesn't need an additional burden.
“The carbon tax is like a reverse tariff that makes Australian manufacturing less competitive compared to overseas rivals.”
Abbott said he has visited hundreds of small businesses across Australia since the Labor Government announced the tax.
“Many have told me about the increasing pressures they face, not only rising electricity and transport costs but also the massive increase in the costs of refrigeration and air-conditioning due to the carbon tax,” he said.
After reading the letter from Abbott, Mirabellla congratulated AREMA for actively opposing the carbon tax and ensuring the high cost of refrigerants received plenty of media attention.
“Over the years I have seen many industry associations cowed and intimidated from speaking out about the damage being done to their members by a combination of difficult economic conditions, intensifying overseas competition, and bad government policy,” she said.
“But AREMA has not been afraid to raise issues publicly or to draw the attention of Ministers to the ramifications of their decisions.
“I urge you not to be silenced, and not to give up or give in. Evidence of AREMA's capacity to speak up and advocate for the best interests of its members was demonstrated in your contribution to public debate over the introduction of the Government's carbon tax.
“It has been heartening to observe the good sense and courage that you've shown in fighting against some of the many things that are just so bad and so toxic about this ludicrous tax.
“Not least the issues that Steve Anderson brought to national attention this week, when he identified the serious dangers associated with the incentives the carbon tax will create for the substitution of non-flammable with flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants.
“It's also worth saying that, without your involvement, very few Australians would have been aware of the extent of the price rises the carbon tax has stimulated on many of the refrigerants that are so vital to your businesses.”
Mirabella said it makes good business sense to reduce energy costs and to make production more sustainable.
“It's what sensible enterprises right across Australia have been doing for a long time,” she said.
“But no-one helps the environment with a unilateral tax that causes all manner of economic damage and raises the costs to Australian business without reducing global emissions in the process.”
Mirabella said the tax is so poorly conceived that it will actually increase worldwide emissions and send manufacturing jobs to countries which don't have the same environmental rules and standards.
“They will now be making the things we use to make,” she said.
Following her address, Mirabella took questions from attendees. Most of the questions were about the carbon tax and how the Opposition will make the transition away from the tax.
She admitted that removing the tax is an “enormous responsibility” but the Coalition would rely on industry for guidance rather than public servants cocooned in Canberra.
Mirabella supported renewable energy initiatives but not when they are being singled out and subsidised by taxpayers.
AREMA president and the managing director of Sanden International, Mark Padwick undertook presentations to award winners Ken Ball and Simon Ho.
The evening ended with stand-up comic Peter Berner.