Gillard’s carbon tax already casting a dark shadow on families, Tony Abbott says
Tony Abbott.(Photo: Australian Conservative.)
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott attacked the Gillard Government’s carbon tax during a visit to a toolmaking business in Sydney today.
“This is one of the tens of thousands of small and medium sized business will be punished by Labor’s carbon tax. More than that, this is one of the vital businesses if our sophisticated manufacturing capacity in this country is to survive. Manufacturing needs tools and tools need tool-making businesses like this but the carbon tax on top of all sorts of other things is going to make it that much harder for this business to survive and flourish into the future.”
Mr Abbott said the electricity bill for the business was about $40,000 a year and will go up by about $4,000 “at the very first hit of the carbon tax”.
“Power will be more expensive, aluminium will be expensive, steel will be more expensive. Everything that this business uses to make tools will be more expensive under the carbon tax. That’s why the best thing that this government could do for the manufacturing industries of this country is scrap the carbon tax now.
“We are already seeing illustrations of how the carbon tax is casting a dark shadow on the families of this country, the jobs of this country. We had yesterday an announcement from Qantas and Jetstar that their tickets are going to cost more because of the carbon tax. So everything you do will be more expensive under the carbon tax. Turn on the lights, you pay. Open the fridge, you pay. Get on the train, you pay. Catch a plane, you pay. This carbon tax won’t just be bad for jobs, won’t just be bad for families, it’s now going to be bad for the tourist industry because it will be a tax on holidays as well as a tax on the necessities of life.
“I have a very simple message for the manufacturing workers of Australia – your jobs won’t be safe until Julia Gillard loses her job and this government is gone because the carbon tax is a dagger aimed at the heart of manufacturing in this country,” Mr Abbott said.
