Mr COMBET (Charlton—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) (15:08): I thank the member for Blair for his question. I know he has a keen interest in the meat industry. The fact of the matter is that nine months into carbon pricing the meat industry is one where you can look quite clearly at how the carbon price is working to help transform the economy. In the industry it is reducing carbon pollution and driving investments that improve the industry's competitiveness. Those opposite made many dire, terrible, doom-and-gloom predictions about the future of the meat industry as we went towards 1 July last year, with its introduction. It will be recalled that Senator Joyce predicted a $100 lamb roast and that a single head of beef going into an abattoir would cost the abattoir $575,000. That is the nature of the absolutely ludicrous claims that were made, joined in by the Leader of the Opposition. The member for Wright raised the case of AJ Bush and Sons and their Bromelton plant in Queensland, in particular. He said that that particular meat facility would face an 'absolute walloping' from the carbon price. He visited the abattoir with Senator Joyce and prophesised all the terrible doom and gloom about never being able to afford another T-bone. But now that we are nine months into carbon pricing, what has actually happened at the Bromelton plant is quite interesting because, with government support, the company is capturing its methane emissions, cutting its electricity bills and also cutting its emissions. It is doing it through an investment in a biogas facility and more energy efficient boilers. Recently, in the Beaudesert Times, AJ Bush's manager, David Kassulke, previously a critic of carbon pricing, said that these investments will cut their emissions by more than half and allow the company to produce half of the plant's electricity requirements. He said that as a consequence the abattoir 'will ultimately be in a much more competitive position in the marketplace as a direct result' of carbon pricing— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders! Mr COMBET: This is exactly what he said: What the imposition of the carbon tax has done is make industry take stock of what it is currently doing and has forced it to look at doing things in a better way. It means companies are now looking at ways to use less energy which equates to less cost … That has been the intention of the tax and clearly from that perspective it is working and working well. That is a quote from the head of AJ Bush at the Bromelton facility in Queensland. They are supportive of how the carbon tax is working. It is working and working well, cutting their electricity bill in half and reducing their emissions by a half. The only walloping at AJ Bush has been to the credibility of the member for Wright, Senator Joyce and the Leader of the Opposition for all of the ridiculous and bizarre claims that they will be held to account for. (Time expired)