STEVE PRICE:
David Bradbury was involved in an announcement regarding the involvement of the ACCC and he joins us now, David good to talk to you again.
DAVID BRADBURY:
Good morning Steve, how are you?
PRICE:
I'm well. How do we have confidence that the ACCC can monitor this and punish people doing the wrong thing when we see that they're unable, as I said, to monitor fuel companies or petrol companies that gouge us on fuel prices?
BRADBURY:
Well, the allegation you make there in regards to petrol companies and gouging, I know that there are a range of views in the community regarding the effectiveness of the ACCC on those matters. But, I have to say that the way in which they've conducted their investigations in the past do show that they can be a very effective body. There are always limitations in any particular case regarding evidence that's available. But equally, I think there is a very strong record of success from the ACCC in a range of areas and you mentioned petrol but I know that in recent times in the telecommunications area for example, using the very powers that the ACCC will rely upon in tackling any misleading carbon related representations. We saw that they were successful in securing fines in the order of $5 million from Optus recently. We are confident in the ACCC; this is their bread and butter ever since the introduction of the GST when they were given some powers at that time to monitor what was going on as far as prices were concerned. We've seen that they can be very effective, and the additional resources that we've provided them with as well as the stronger penalties we've put in place from the 1st of January this year, will ensure that they're in a position to get out there to investigate complaints that are made, where those complaints demonstrate a company is seeking to increase their prices above and beyond the modest price increases that the carbon price will require, then the full force of the law will be felt by them.
PRICE:
The Government got a question in question time last week from Andrew Robb about a story suggesting an employee at Australia Post suggesting that postal charges had gone up because of the carbon tax. Greg Combet got a call here yesterday by one of our listeners that had been told by her power company that her power bill had gone up due to the carbon tax. This is breaking out all over, and the carbon tax hasn't even been introduced.
BRADBURY:
Yep, and it's outrageous that those claims are being made. Most people would understand that we haven't even got the legislation for the scheme before the Parliament. So, to be blaming price increases at the moment on a carbon price is totally incorrect. What we say to consumers is that there will be some claims made and we don't think it will be a majority of business, but a small minority of businesses. In some cases it may simply be a person standing behind the counter that thinks that they know, telling people and misleading them inadvertently. But the point is we haven't even got the scheme in place and if people are out there suggesting that prices have increased as a result of the carbon pricing proposal, then that is plain wrong. We need people to contact the ACCC so we can investigate those matters. But another very important part of the announcement we made yesterday was education. We're making sure that the ACCC has the resources to provide additional education to businesses and consumers to make sure that everybody is aware of the seriousness of these matters. You can't be out there blaming price increases on the carbon price. There will be some modest increases, but anyone out there suggestion that at the moment is just plain wrong.
PRICE:
You hold a Western Sydney seats, what sort of feedback are you getting from your constituents? We saw Julia Gillard get heckled yesterday at Brisbane shopping centre, I played one of those questions asked to her last night, and of course you were in the middle of day one of selling this new carbon tax because you were at Emu Plains on Monday with the PM at Monaro Place. In hindsight, do you regret dragging the Cochrane family in to that, considering what has happened since?
BRADBURY:
I regret the fact that certain elements within the media sought to pursue that family up hill and down dale. The reality is, we visited a family in my electorate on the basis that they were a pretty typical family and we wanted to demonstrate that with the Government's new household assistance estimator on the website, that you can go to that website and you can work out exactly what the carbon price proposal means for you.
PRICE:
But was the Telegraph right though David, that they were the only house in the street out of ten or eleven families that supported it?
BRADBURY:
Well I didn't doorknock the rest of the street. What I can tell you was that there was a lot of talk about stage management, we walked through the Westfield Plaza in Penrith and I think you've been there before...
PRICE:
Yeah, I interviewed you there.
BRADBURY:
Yeah, we've been there a few years ago. You know that it's not a place where stage management can go on, particularly during school holidays. There were a lot of people in that venue, we walked through that venue for quite a length of time, I think about an hour. To be frank, the response was pretty good. Am I receiving feedback on this issue? Of course I am. Many of the questions I get asked are similar to the questions the Prime Minister got asked last night. But that is why we're out there trying to explain what we're doing and why we're doing this, why it's important to do it and why we're doing it the way we're doing it. I think that's an important part of what we need to do to ensure that the Australian people have confidence that this is in the best interests of the nation and in the interests of future generations.
PRICE:
Good to catch up with you David.
BRADBURY:
Good to talk to you Steve.