CLAIMS that scrapping the carbon tax will save local families up to $550 a year are misleading, The Goulburn Group’s Mhairi Fraser says.
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In response to statements from Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Hume MP Angus Taylor, Mrs Fraser labelled the carbon tax repeal ‘fraudulent’ and unlikely to relieve cost-of-living pressures or do little to address climate change challenges.
“There may well be a drop in our next electricity bills, but it will very temporary,” Mrs Fraser said on behalf of The Goulburn Group – a Greens-aligned not-for-profit organisation.
“No doubt we will see a modest change in electricity prices in the short-term, but in the mid to long term, this won’t help.
“They (the government) have been very sneaky in the way they’ve sold this. They’ve used cost increases estimated to have occurred from the carbon tax and told us ‘that’s how much you’ll save’. People won’t be getting $550 back in hand.
“The whole mandate is fraudulent. It’s based on a lie.”
The Group’s chairman Urs Waterlin agrees. Mr Waterlin predicts consumers will soon be questioning savings.
“A promise is a promise. Many people in this government have made it, including our very own Angus Taylor,” he said.
“I would encourage anyone to ask him in a few months’ time where the money is. I bet we will hear many elaborate excuses why the savings cannot be seen, or why they have been eaten up by even higher prices elsewhere.”
The abolition of the carbon tax passed through the Senate on its third attempt last week – nearly two years to the day since it was introduced.
While Member for Hume Mr Taylor described the tax’s canning as a “big step forward,” The Goulburn Group believes otherwise.
Citing figures from the Australia Institute’s Power Down report, Mrs Fraser explained emission levels had decreased since the carbon tax’s introduction. Furthermore, Goulburn Mulwaree’s ability to capitalise on renewable energy investment has been jeopardised.
“This is such a step back for Australia,” she continued.
“On the day the carbon tax repeal happened, China and Korea went the other way. The US has also stepped up. Taking a step in the other direction is ludicrous.
“(Goulburn) is awash with renewable energy. We hold the best wind reserves in the world. We also have excellent solar energy potential.”
Mr Taylor was quick to laud the Senate’s decision to overturn the tax, promising constituents they would be financially advanced as a result.
“Electricity bills will be cheaper, gas bills will be cheaper and equipment using synthetic greenhouse gas will be cheaper to buy and cheaper to run,” he said.
Feedback from Origin Energy Limited CEO Frank Calabria supports Mr Taylor’s message.
Origin, a company that provides energy to more than four million Australians, is promising to reimburse customers for cost increases attributable to a carbon tax.
“Origin has started a program to update its billing systems with revised usage charges that exclude the carbon price. Customers will start seeing the new prices on their household energy bills from September and these will be backdated to 1 July,” Mr Calabria explained.
Just whether the remainder of a promised $550 per average Australian family is saved remains to be seen.
Treasury figures estimate the typical Australian household’s weekly bill has increased by $9.90 as a result of the tax – one third of which is attributable to electricity, with petrol accounting for $1.50 and food 80 cents.
Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have indicated the repeal would have no effect on groceries.
Moreover, Qantas and Virgin – Australia’s largest flyers – are ruling out a reduction in airfares.