Alcoa has advised the Senate that Labor’s Carbon Tax is putting further pressure on the future viability of Alcoa’s two Victorian aluminium smelters at Geelong and Portland.
20 September 2011
JOINT MEDIA RELEASE - HON GREG HUNT MP - DAN TEHAN MP
Alcoa has advised the Senate that Labor’s Carbon Tax is putting further pressure on the future viability of Alcoa’s two Victorian aluminium smelters at Geelong and Portland.
In response to a question by the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Carbon Tax Pricing Mechanisms, Alcoa has confirmed that the Carbon Tax, along with the Australian dollar and high input costs, is posing a “significant threat to the future viability of both the Victorian smelters.” (Source: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/scrutinynewtaxes_ctte/carbontax/submissions.htm)
The Carbon Tax will cost the company around $40 million a year.
Prime Minister Gillard said on 3 March that she was “all about Australian jobs” when responding to a question about the carbon tax’s impact on the aluminium industry.
However those words of assurance appear to amount to nothing when considering the reality of how the Carbon Tax will hit the industry and the real business decisions companies have to make.
Alcoa is Victoria’s largest exporter and employs 1,200 workers.
Australian Workers Union Victorian Secretary Cesar Melham has warned that the loss of jobs at Alcoa would have a “snowball” effect.
The Carbon Tax is coming at the worst possible time, with industry already struggling to compete internationally due to the high Australian dollar.
While the Government is offering compensation, it fails to address the long term financial pressures the Carbon Tax will add to businesses, and which overseas competitors don’t have to pay.
The warning from Alcoa coincides with a Victorian Government report confirming that 35,000 jobs across the state are at risk under the Carbon Tax and Victorians will be $1,050 worse off.
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