OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has used a visit to Brimbank to launch a scathing attack on the government’s impending pricing of carbon.
Speaking at the Sleepmaker factory in Deer Park last Monday, Mr Abbott claimed the carbon tax was a “reverse tariff” that would “go like a wrecking ball through the Australian economy”.
From July 1, Australia’s top 500 polluters will pay a cost based on their carbon emissions.
The government says this will cut pollution and drive investment in clean energy, but Mr Abbott said it would send jobs offshore.
He vowed his first act in government would be to abolish the new system.
Manufacturing – Brimbank’s largest employer – is a heavily contested frontier in the political battle over the policy’s potential impact on jobs.
Opposition industry minister Sophie Mirabella said businesses wanting to invest and create jobs were being hit with extra charges and red tape.
“We are at a crisis point in manufacturing. Any discussion on how we get a clear way forward and continue to have a manufacturing future must discuss the carbon tax.”
Speaking on the standing down of 350 workers from Altona’s Toyota plant, Ms Mirabella said it would be a traumatic and challenging time for workers and their families.
Mr Abbott conceded the Toyota lay-offs had nothing to do with the carbon tax but said its introduction was going to “make a bad situation worse”.
Sleepmaker’s Graeme Turner said the carbon tax would put up energy and freight costs.
“We’re very proud of our brand and our products. But certainly the carbon tax and costs that go with it make it more and more difficult.”
Industry Minister Greg Combet said the opposition’s refusal to back the government’s decision to co-invest $275 million to keep GM Holden making cars in Australia for the next decade showed it was merely posturing on manufacturing.
“The difference between Labor and the Coalition on manufacturing could not be clearer,” he said.
“The Coalition’s policy would close down Holden and other auto manufacturers and component-makers in Australia, with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.”
