AXING of the carbon tax was great news for rural and regional businesses and families, Queensland Senator Matt Canavan said today.

"This is a great day for regional Queensland," he said. “Queensland was always at the centre of the carbon tax impact. Queensland’s coal, manufacturing and beef industries have been labouring under the tax and now this handbrake has been removed.

“The carbon tax was a policy to make people poorer, to make people poorer so they could not afford to buy as much electricity.

“Worse than that, the carbon tax was all cost and no benefit. The temperature of the globe was not going to change one bit because of the carbon tax.

"Scrapping Labor's carbon tax will bring down household expenses and cut costs of production for farming, mining and other businesses. It's a big boost for the Queensland economy and Queensland families."
Senator Canavan said scrapping the tax honoured the Coalition's pre-election promise and would be welcomed by families, farmers and businesses throughout the State.

"Electricity costs are a big cost for dairy farmers milking cows, cane growers using irrigation pumps, abattoirs processing cattle, fish factories handling seafood: countless businesses producing food and manufactured goods from one end of the State to the other will be celebrating the axing of Labor's carbon tax."

Senator Canavan said affordable energy was vital for boosting productivity in the economy.

"The carbon tax and renewable energy target increased business costs. Australia has gone from having some of the cheapest power prices in the world to now being above average. For example, electricity costs have doubled for many businesses in just the past seven years.

"Australia needs cheap energy. We have a choice: we either have cheap energy or we will get cheap wages."

17 July 2014