The number of companies hit by the carbon tax will be considerably lower than the 500 previously thought, it emerged yesterday as the Gillard government released its long-awaited hit list of liable greenhouse emitters.
The preliminary list included 248 companies, councils and other organisations that will pay the $23-per-tonne carbon tax from July 1. As expected, most are power generators, mining companies and heavy industry firms, though includes surprises such as Crown Melbourne and La Trobe University, both of which generate their own electricity.
A further 80 companies have been advised in writing they will cop the tax, and The Age understands the list for 2012-13 will total closer to 400 emitters than the originally forecast 500. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said: ”I’m quite confident it’s going to be under 500.”
Based on greenhouse emissions data, big power generators including Latrobe Valley giants Loy Yang, International Power and TRUenergy top the list, along with mining firms BHP and Rio Tinto, and heavy industry such as Alcoa.
Mr Combet also refused to rule out future changes to the clean energy package such as more compensation. He said he would talk to crossbench MP Rob Oakeshott about his push to scrap the $15 floor price on carbon per tonne - once the carbon tax shifts to a floating price scheme in 2015 - which would likely cut the cost to Australian business.
Mr Combet said Mr Oakeshott was bound by the agreement he signed up to. But hinting the government was flexible on the floor price, the minister added: ”That doesn’t mean that he can’t approach me or my colleagues in relation to these matters. When I have formulated the regulations, I’ve no doubt we’ll have a discussion about it.”
A yet unknown number of additional emitters will join the government’s carbon list, most of them landfill operators - both local councils and private waste management companies - and also parent companies that are still deciding whether to pay through subsidiaries or vice versa. The total number of big emitters that will pay the tax will change over time as assets such as mines or plants are bought and sold.
Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt said the fact that power generators topped the carbon tax list meant that every Australian would ultimately pay. ”This flows directly through to people’s electricity bills,” he said.
Mr Hunt also said Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s previous assertion that 500 big emitters would pay the tax had been ”shown to be dishonest”.
Mr Combet also said he understood that discussions between Australia and East Timor over the impact that the carbon tax will have on the impoverished northern nation - revealed last week by The Age - had already begun.
East Timor is likely to be financially disadvantaged by millions of dollars a year because of the carbon tax’s impact on the Joint Petroleum Development Area in the Timor Sea, which is shared between the two countries.
The resource-heavy states, New South Wales and Queensland are home to 145 of the top emitters on the list.
New South Wales has 81 entities, while Queensland has 64. The boom state of Western Australia accounts for another 45 of the 235 entities whose registered headquarters can be traced through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Victoria was also strongly represented, with 39 entities likely to be liable under the carbon price. The other states all had fewer than 10 each.
