BRADBURY:
Tony Abbott has been writing to small businesses all around this country and in that letter we see fliers like this one. He's calling on small businesses, like butchers, to put a Liberal Party pamphlet up in their window that blames prices on the carbon price.
This is irresponsible from Mr Abbott and it puts many businesses, particularly small businesses, in the position where they could potentially find themselves in trouble as a result of having misled their customers. On the one hand this letter that Mr Abbott has written gives businesses the green light to jack up their prices, but on the other, it potentially drags small businesses into his scare campaign and small businesses, businesses all around this country, if they are caught making false statements and falsely attributing price rises to the carbon price, they could find themselves exposed to fines of up to $1.1 million. This is reckless and it's irresponsible.
Now, whilst we've come to expect this negativity from Mr Abbott, he's really crossed the line on this one, because this means for many businesses, and this is regardless of where you stand on the carbon price, the message to all businesses is do not get caught in the situation where you are jacking up your prices and falsely attributing those price rises to the carbon price. But there's also a very clear message for consumers as well. If you see a retailer or a business jacking up their prices and falsely blaming the carbon price, query the retailer, query the business, but you always have the opportunity to pick up the phone and to call the ACCC. We've established a hotline and the ACCC can be contacted on 1300 303 609. This is a serious matter. Mr Abbott in his negativity now threatens to bring, and to drag, thousands of small businesses into the threat and the potential of being in breach of the Competition and Consumer Act.
JOURNALIST:
So are you questioning whether or not butchers will not face any price hikes on the carbon tax?
BRADBURY:
The Treasury modelling suggests that overall price increases per week on a basket of meat and seafood for the average consumer would be somewhere in the order of 10 cents per week. Ten cents per week is what the modelled impact on the average basket for a consumer of meat and seafood. So what I am saying to businesses around this country is don't listen to Tony Abbott, don't put up these dodgy Liberal Party pamphlets in your window and try and blame price increases on the carbon price. Have a look at what it means for your business and make judgements accordingly, but do not get caught out misleading consumers, jacking up your prices and falsely blaming the carbon price.
JOURNALIST:
Minister Bradbury, come Sunday what will your colleagues be doing (inaudible)
BRADBURY:
Well Minister Gray will be returning to Whyalla, that's a matter of public record. I think we'll all be getting on with the job. Most Australians will be getting on with their lives and they'll see that the birds are still chirping, the sky hasn't fallen in and the 'unimaginable' price rises that Mr Abbott has foreshadowed won't manifest themselves. Indeed, the wiping off of the map of Whyalla won't occur. All of these other apocalyptic pronouncements we've heard from Mr Abbott, well I think we're going to see that none of them will come to pass. That's why we see with this latest stunt, writing to small businesses all around the country, expecting local butchers to put dodgy Liberal Party pamphlets up in windows blaming price rises on the carbon price, this is all part of Mr Abbott's attempt to try and save some face as we approach the first of July. He said that price rises would be 'unimaginable'. Now the pressure's on him and he's doing his bit, unfortunately, doing his bit to encourage businesses to jack up their prices. My message to businesses is do not allow yourself to get caught in this scare campaign of Mr Abbott's because the consequences of misleading consumers are very serious.
JOURNALIST:
What about the businesses that can't pass on any of the cost, no matter how small it is, like the charities that the Opposition was talking about today.
BRADBURY:
I see that the Leader of the Opposition has been out and about visiting charities. We have a range of programs in place to provide assistance to organisations such as the RSPCA. They are programs that we've already announced and we are ensuring that there are funds available to assist those organisations as they make the transition that we all have to make on the first of July. But of course, let's not forget that in States like New South Wales, like Western Australia – and if we take the Western Australia example, electricity prices under the Barnett Government have gone up by 57 per cent in the last three years. What compensation have the charities received for that 57 per cent increase in electricity? What Government programs has the Barnett Government put in place to assist charities? And that's just in terms of the charitable sector. Households, families, pensioners – the comprehensive package of assistance we have in place is all designed to ensure that people are able to make the transition to a cleaner energy future. We want people to have some assistance as they make those changes, whereas these other electricity increases that have been happening in the past, many of them fuelled on by bad policies by State Liberal Governments, they've all been occurring at much greater rates and there's been absolutely no assistance at all.
JOURNALIST:
The RSPCA though is today saying that they think this will cost them $180,000 just for the carbon tax part of their electricity and that'll cost them four jobs. Are you saying they're not telling the truth, that that's not the case?
BRADBURY:
Look, I haven't seen the particulars of what the RSPCA might be asserting but I would certainly encourage them, along with all not-for-profit and charitable organisations to seek out the funding opportunities that we've put in place. I've certainly been encouraging similar organisations in my electorate to do the same and that's why we've put that program in place.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) ACT prices, they've gone up 17 per cent, 14 per cent of that is carbon price which would obviously be above Treasury, what are your numbers in that area?
BRADBURY:
I haven't seen the particulars in relation to the ACT but all of the regulatory bodies at the State level that have been releasing their details in recent times have demonstrated that the Treasury modelling, in terms of electricity prices and indeed overall cost impacts have been pretty close to the mark. Just to restate what those cost impacts are, the overall expected impact on prices across the board is expected to be 0.07 per cent – less than one per cent. That's less than one cent in every dollar. Now these are minimal and modest impacts but they're impacts that we have at least taken the view that it's appropriate to ensure that households and people in need have been properly assisted and that's why we've got a comprehensive package in place.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible)
BRADBURY:
As I said, I haven't seen the particular details there. The details I have seen have been consistent with the Treasury modelling.
JOURNALIST:
Just quickly on James Ashby (inaudible)
BRADBURY:
I have no knowledge of the particular text messages or documents that you're referring to, I suspect they'll be the subject of forensic examination throughout the course of the legal matters that are in play, I don't wish to comment.