CAIRNS Regional Council residents stand to suffer yet another hit from the carbon tax, Federal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch said today.
Clean Energy Regulator or ‘Carbon Cop’ officials have told Senate Estimates that, on top of the 10 councils recently named on a list of 248 entities expected to be liable to pay the carbon tax, they have written to a further 104 councils that might also be hit.
Among these 104 additional councils is Cairns Regional Council.
The Regulator’s Chair and CEO, Chloe Munro, told Senate Estimates that their ‘best guess’ is that, of these additional 104 local governments, about 70 will actually be liable to the carbon tax.
“All Australians will be hit with the carbon tax, particularly as a result of electricity and gas price hikes that will flow on to push up the cost of everything,” Mr Entsch said today.
“We now know that ratepayers in the CRC area could be among the many, many thousands of Australians who will also be hit indirectly as ratepayers of councils subject to the carbon tax, simply because they own or use a dump or landfill facility.”
Mr Entsch said it seemed “remarkable” that local councils around Australia could account for around 20 per cent of those entities directly liable to pay Labor’s carbon tax.
“The carbon tax will also mean that local councils have to lift their own fees and charges, raise rates, cut services or some combination of these hits, all of which mean more pain for residents at the local level.
“The Coalition has a strong plan for economic growth and it starts with scrapping the carbon tax,” he added.
