Page 2208 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 August 2014
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MR HANSON: Or maybe more.
Mr Barr: You might think it is more than $550, do you?
MR HANSON: We will see. A typical Canberran household is now saving $320 annually on their power bills, with more savings to come across the whole range of goods and services that they consume. I think that is very welcome news. Mr Barr seems to be critical of this. Mr Barr does not like this. He does not like money going into taxpayers’ pockets. We know that he likes it going into his coffers. We know that, so that he can fund Mr Corbell’s light rail and so that he can fund his new stadium. That is where Mr Barr wants your money—in his pocket, not in yours.
The Liberal approach, Mr Assistant Speaker, is to stop taxes, to get money into your pocket. What Mr Barr wants is to put taxes up. He wants the carbon tax up. He wants your rates up. He wants the rates up so that he can put it into his pocket and into Mr Corbell’s pocket, so that they can build their light rail, so that they can build their stadium and everything else that they want.
Government members interjecting—
MR HANSON: Listen to them. They hate it that Canberrans are going to get money back. They hate it.
Mrs Jones: A point of order.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, resume your seat, please.
Mrs Jones: I cannot hear a single word Mr Hanson is saying because of all the interjections from Mr Barr and Mr Corbell across the chamber. Could you please ask them to desist?
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Thank you. Resume, please, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker.
Mr Barr: Getting fired up for a Thursday, Jeremy.
MR HANSON: They have started again, Mr Assistant Speaker. They really do not like the fact that Canberrans are going to get some tax back. With respect to the Labor tax, be it the carbon tax or whatever else—rates and so on—they just hate it, don’t they? I love these interjections. Probably in the next ACT budget there will be some coincidental tax rise of $550 a person. No doubt Mr Barr is already doing the calculations now.
With the now delivered drop in power costs, Canberra households can expect further cost savings. To further explain to Mr Barr, who seems to lack that simple grasp of where these savings are coming from, let me quote some comments by major industry associations as to what it means for them. This is from the Australian Retailers Association:
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