QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL: Jubilant scenes in the House of Representatives yesterday following passage of the world’s biggest carbon tax would be repeated more boisterously in Canada, the USA and South America, Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Michael Roche says.
"The hugs and backslapping in Canberra this morning are nothing compared with the level of excitement that this tax on Australia’s key export industries is generating among our global competitors," he says.
"The last time Australia made our competitors so happy was when the hugely discredited resource super profits tax was unveiled.
"What the House of Representatives has delivered is the world’s biggest carbon tax on Australia’s resource sector industries while none of our global competitors is even contemplating one.
"Resource exporters in Canada, the United States, Indonesia, Africa and South America must be delighted that Australian MPs have voted to hand over a large chunk of the Australian resource sector’s future growth and with it, thousands of jobs.
"New jobs, investment – and the emissions they generate – will simply shift to resource exporting countries that do not have a carbon tax.
"The global challenge to reduce carbon emissions will not be helped by Australia’s unilateral actions but by concerted international effort," Mr Roche says.
