THE federal opposition leader has called on the government to scrap the carbon tax in tomorrow night’s budget.
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Tony Abbott said the best thing the Federal Government could do for Australia and the economy right now was to drop this toxic tax.
“What I expect the government to do is yet again to hit the families of Australia, because this is a government which is much tougher on the Australian people than it is on themselves,” he said.
About 500 large polluters will be required to pay for their pollution under the carbon pricing mechanism.
They account for around 60 per cent of our carbon pollution.
Mr Abbott said people wanted to see an end to this tax, which was coming at the worst possible time.
But, Climate Change Australia Hastings Branch president Harry Creamer said we needed to act to reduce our carbon emissions and the best way to do that was to introduce a pollution levy on the nation’s top 500 polluters.
“The Clean Energy Future package the government is bringing in from July 1 starts low and goes slow, and will cause a minimum of disruption to the economy,” he said.
Mr Abbott toured Ricardoes Tomatoes and Strawberries in town on Friday.
He said that business was one of tens of thousands of Australian businesses that would be hurt by the carbon tax.
Ricardoes Tomatoes and Strawberries co-owner Anthony Sarks spoke about the costs faced by small business.
“Costs of energy, costs of compliance – it’s costs, costs, costs for us and we would just like government to get out of the road,” he said.
The Blackmans Point Road business employs 25 people.
Meanwhile, Mr Abbott has competed in previous Ironman events in Port Macquarie but did not take part this year.
