Farmers and irrigators have called on the Senate to pass the Abbott government’s carbon tax repeal bill in parliament’s last sitting fortnight, which begins today.
The chairman of the National Farmers Federation sustainability committee, Gerald Leach, said farmers had led the way in emissions reductions without the carbon tax, but had still been hard hit by it.
He said research by the Australian Farm Institute in 2008 indicated that, depending on the commodity produced, the average farm business would incur additional energy, fertiliser and chemicals costs of up to $10,000 a year.
The NSW Irrigators’ Council said the carbon tax was having a massive impact on food and fibre producers with energy costs for one producer up $80,000.
Tony Abbott said this was a chance for Labor in the Senate to get rid of the tax and give every Australian household a $550-a-year benefit.
The Prime Minister also urged Labor to oppose a Greens motion to disallow the government’s reinstatement of temporary protection visas for asylum-seekers who arrived by boat.
“Do they want to be the junior party to the Greens in all of this or do they want to stand up for stronger borders and Australia’s national interest?” Mr Abbott said.
Another key piece of legislation up for repeal is that governing the minerals resource rent tax. As well, raising the $300 billion ceiling on debt is a high priority for the government, although it is likely to attempt negotiations with the Greens over the outright abolition of the limit before bringing debate on the measure back into parliament.
The Australian Office of Financial Management predicts the government’s total debt will reach the upper limit on December 12, and any legislation must be signed off by the Governor-General before then.
Both Labor and the Greens have said they would prefer a $400bn limit to the $500bn being sought by the government. However, the Greens have indicated they would consider dropping the limit in return for increased transparency in the budget papers about how debt was raised and used.
Labor frontbencher Penny Wong told the ABC’s Insiders that despite his claims during the election campaign Joe Hockey had discovered there was no budget emergency.
“That’s why Joe Hockey is so desperate to find one,” she said.
