In Question Time in the Federal Parliament today, I asked the Prime Minister to guarantee there would be no job losses in the Aluminium sector from the introduction of her carbon tax.
I put the following simple question to the Prime Minister: “Portland Aluminium, located in my electorate of Wannon, directly employs 600 people. Across the country there are 60,000 jobs dependent on the aluminium industry. Will the Prime Minister guarantee that there will be no job losses in the aluminium industry as a result of the carbon tax?”
Sadly for Portland, and all the other communities dependent on the aluminium industry, Prime Minister Gillard would not answer the question, but noted that she was being ‘honest’ with the Australian people.
“I note that this new found ‘honesty’ was not apparent when she blatantly misled voters before the election by stating that ‘there would be no carbon tax under the government I lead’.
“Later during a censure motion on the Prime Minister she sought to grossly misrepresent the question I asked by referring to comments made by Alcoa Managing Director, Alan Cransberg.
In misrepresenting the question I had asked, Prime Minister Gillard also failed to come clean with the full remarks made by Mr Cransberg when he stated: “Regardless of the mechanism used, it is essential the Australian response does not diminish the international competitiveness of Australian industries which would simply lead to job losses and the transfer of emissions to other countries.”
“I share these serious concerns about job losses and that is why I asked the question.
“The Coalition has been calling on the Government to provide some details on their carbon tax proposal, but they can not. The only thing certain about this carbon tax is its uncertainty.
“If the Prime Minister is prepared to mislead the Australian people two days before a federal election on the introduction of a carbon tax, how can they now trust her to ensure there will not be serious job losses in one of our major industries.”
‐ENDS‐ Media Contact: Rachelle Miller 03 5572 1100/02 6277 4393 or 0408 564 232
Copyright © 2010 : Authorised by Dan Tehan, 190 Gray St, Hamilton VIC 3300
Disclaimer | Privacy | Contact
Design by Tin Shed Creations
