Broken carbon tax promise diminishes parliament and politicians, Jones tells rally

About 100 turned out yesterday in Melbourne, undeterred by rain and cold, to protest the start of the Gillard Government’s carbon tax.

Popular Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones joined Victorian federal MPs Bruce Billson, Sophie Mirabella and Senator Mitch Fifield to speak against the tax.

Mr Jones told the rally, organised by the Consumers and Taxpayers Association, that the Gillard Government’s broken carbon tax promise had diminished the image of parliament and politicians in the eyes of the public.

He described the notion of global warming as a “hoax” and “witchcraft”.

“There are stacks and stacks of eminent scientists from all over the world who’ve argued it’s witchcraft. I have interviewed every one of them on my program and not one syllable they have uttered has been reproduced on any other media outlet anywhere in Australia.

“There is a conspiracy in this country to deny the other side,” Alan Jones said.

Mr Jones accused the Government of hypocrisy.

“On the one hand we’re going to tax the coal industry out of existence in this country and, on the other hand, boast about increasing exports of coal to China, so that they can produce cheap electricity which is being denied to us. The hypocrisy everywhere is breathtaking. And, as a result, now we’ve got a tax which will filter through to everybody.”

“All the carbon tax is going to do is close down factories, shove them offshore to countries that will make the same things we used to make but create more emissions,” Sophie Mirabella, the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science, told the rally.

“At a time when there are very challenging circumstances for industry and for business, the carbon tax for so many of them is the final straw.

“And when they tell you about ‘green jobs’ – what a joke. For every so-called ‘green job’ we will lose quite a few real jobs.

“You don’t create jobs by taking money away from industries that are actually productive and profitable and subsidise those that are not,” Ms Mirabella said.

Judgment day

The Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, Bruce Billson, said the carbon tax will hit small business hard.

“Despite all the carve-outs of compensation, the hush money, the subsidies that are being thrown around to mask the impact of this carbon tax, what did small business get out of this government? Absolutely nothing,” Mr Billson said.

“This tax is supposed to get more punishing over time. This tax is supposed to cost more. This tax is supposed to make life more difficult for people who have no choices about their purchasing, have no opportunity to reduce their energy consumption and are being denied an opportunity for a good quality life in this country.

“Judgment day will be at the next election. Unless we get rid of this government and this carbon tax, the harm will just grow and grow and grow,” Mr Billson told the rally.