Western Australian industry remains concerned that the carbon tax is the wrong policy at the wrong time, now that its detail has been released, the state's peak business and industry bodies say.
Western Australian industry remains concerned that the carbon tax is the wrong policy at the wrong time, now that its detail has been released, the state's peak business and industry bodies say.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief economist John Nicolaou said the group's three main concerns about the proposed tax were international competitiveness; higher costs of business and discouragement of investment; and the preparedness of small business for the tax changes.
"The government needs to work quickly with business to address these issues," Mr Nicolaou said.
"This is particularly important for WA's emissions-intensive trade exposed industries, and small and medium enterprices which are ill prepared for the introduction of a price on carbon."
Mr Nicolaou said a recent CCI survey found most WA employers were not prepared for the carbon price, and that 80 per cent of small businesses had not factored carbon pricing into their business plans.
He said it was unclear if measures announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday to assist the transition for small business would go far enough to insulate the sector.
Western Australia's Chamber of Minerals and Energy also raised concerns that the carbon tax would expose the resources sector to international disadvantage.
"Australian and Western Australian companies now face significant costs under this tax that our trading competitors don't," CME acting director James Edwards said.
"It is in Australia's best interest that the resource sector remains strong. The imposition of the carbon tax questions the federal government's understanding of what's driving the economy."
"This tax simply increases the sovereign risk profile of investing in Australia, something which has already taken a battering under the original resource rent tax and lingers on under an MRRT."
The Western Australian Farmers Federation welcomed the concessions for farmers that were included in Ms Gillard's plan, but said the tax would still have a negative impact on the incomes of farming families.
WAFarmers said in a statement today saying that concessions such as agriculture being exempt from the tax, $400 million of additional investment into agricultural carbon mitigation research and agricultural power generation being removed from the scheme were welcome moves.
But it said it was concerned about the tax's overall impact, with independent research showing that indirect energy price increases would see farmers incurring thousands of dollars in extra costs yearly.
"The final legislation is more than six months away, and with the details still to be negotiated, nobody can be sure exactly how much extra farmers will have to pay," WAFarmers president Mike Norton said.
"However, what we do know is that farmers have no capacity to pass on any additional costs to consumers like most other industries, which means these costs must be absorbed by the farmer's business.
"As such, WAFarmers supports the National Federation's stance in opposing the carbon tax."
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) said local building product makers will have a tough time trying to compete against imports from non-CO2 taxing countries.
"Building materials and products, such as kitchen cabinets and benchtops, windows and doors, and wall linings and finishes, will increase in price, or be sourced from overseas or both," HIA chief executive Graham Wolfe said.
The cost of the carbon price would be passed down the line into inputs for each production and fabrication phase, increasing the cost to build a new home, he said.
"Families buying a new home will now face additional building costs and higher mortgage repayments."
Mr Wolfe said the federal government had ignored trade exposed manufacturers in the residential building industry.
"If production goes offshore, so too will Australian jobs, and more than likely without any net global (carbon emissions) benefit," he said.
Mr Wolfe said policies were needed to place new energy efficient housing within the reach of the average home buyer and incentives for homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient.
He said new homes were built to meet stringent energy regulations that made them substantially more energy efficient than existing homes.
Seemingly the only industry sector in Western Australia welcoming the tax with open arms was the renewable energy sector.
The Conservation Council of Western Australia said the package offered "enormous opportunity" in the clean energy sector, while also phasing out unsustainable practices such as coal burning and native logging.
CCWA director Piers Verstegen said the package was the most important environmental reform ever undertaken in Australia's history.
"Putting a price on carbon pollution is just the beginning of a new set of economic rules that will eventually see a fundamental structural transformation in Australia's economy," Mr Verstegen said.
"Importantly, the climate change policy package announced by the Prime Minister includes key elements that will enable Western Australians to play a leading role as part of the carbon pollution solution."
Mr Verstegen said in particular, WA projects such as Carnegie Wave Energy's wave power systems and Swan Energy's renewable energy solutions for mining would benefit from a spike in state and federal government support under the carbon tax.
"While providing a much-needed boost fro renewable energy, the carbon price will act as a huge 'Wrong Way - Go Back' sign for investors such as ANZ who have planned new polluting coal-fired power stations in WA," he said.
"ANZ and other companies looking to fund new WA coal developments like the proposed Bluewaters power stations in Collie will be forced to reconsider their investment decisions if the carbon price package comes into effect."
