Mr HOCKEY (North Sydney) (15:24): What an extraordinary sequence of events today. If you wanted any evidence of why consumer confidence is down, business confidence is down and building investment is down, and if you wanted know why there is a general despondency across the nation, look no further than the fact that 24 hours ago the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer of Australia declared in this place that '1,000 big polluters' would be paying a carbon tax and yet 24 hours later he refused to reveal when he found out that 500 had gone missing. Five hundred companies have gone missing. How do you lose 500 companies? They are like aircraft carriers but much bigger! Are they in the dispatch box? Are they under the table? Where have they gone? Are they hiding in the meditation room upstairs? Where are they? I can only think that the Treasurer must be an acrobat and that he would be well served if he was in Circus Oz, because he has done what no magician has done since we had old Alan Bond around—he has managed to destroy big companies. He has taken them out of the equation. Five hundred companies have disappeared out of Australia in the last 24 hours. The Prime Minister on Monday night in a joint statement—roping old Swannie in and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency—said, 'The principles are settled; the 1,000 biggest polluters.' They confirmed on Monday night that it was all done and dusted, that 1,000 big polluters would pay. Come Thursday, three days before Sunday, it is down to 500. I walked outside for a brief moment and there was a gentle hum in the background. I wondered, 'What is that hum out there?' Do you know what it was? It was the sound of the pulping of all those documents that have been printed—all those glossy brochures. They are re-cutting the ads tonight. They have probably flown to the other side of the world to get some daylight so that they can redo the ads and redo the brochures because they suddenly have to take out 500 companies. Imagine, this is the only time in Canberra's history that the whirr of the pulping machines has been louder than the printing machines. Where are things at? What is frightening is that their mob, their backbench—the caucus—must be wondering what the hell is going on. If the people on the frontbench who are going to make the announcement do not know how many companies are going to be affected by a carbon tax, how can their backbench have any confidence in them? This is not the way to run a country. Was it a surprise to the member for New England that it had gone from 1,000 to 500? Mr Windsor: You'll find out, Joe. Mr HOCKEY: Oh, we will find out! Was it a surprise to the member for Lyne? Mr Oakeshott interjecting— Mr HOCKEY: It was! Ring up Bob Brown. 'Hey Bob, it's Rob here. No, Bob, it's Rob. I have to say to you, Bob, we've heard that it is down to 500. Good news.' Imagine how pleased No. 501 is! 'Today is a glory day. I'm excluded. I'm No. 501 on the list.' What about poor, old No. 500? What a bum steer for No. 500! Poor, old No. 500. It is probably a little family company that thought they were getting the guernsey. Mr Windsor interjecting— Mr HOCKEY: You are No. 1, old soul. Old china, you are No. 1. Mr Windsor interjecting— Mr HOCKEY: You've got a No. 10! You cannot count either. Lord knows, he is now the man running the Treasury! On their side, it is a complete comedy act. And no wonder it is having an impact on the Australian people. No wonder retail is down. No wonder manufacturing is frightened. Why? Because the people running the show are treating it like a circus. That is what it comes down to. They only decided on Monday night to make the announcement because Christine Milne went on Sky News on Monday and said, 'We'll be making an announcement at the end of the week.' Less than 24 hours earlier, the Prime Minister said, 'It could be some weeks.' But now we know: Christine Milne called the timetable for the announcement of carbon tax. An opposition member: Who is she? Mr HOCKEY: She is a Greens senator in the other place who was not elected by the majority of the Australian people to run the shop. Nor was the member for New England, nor was the member for Lyne, nor was Senator Bob Brown, nor any of them. They were not elected to run the shop. They were elected not to deliver a carbon tax. That is what they promised. It comes down to three core principles. No. 1 is the cost of the tax. I say to you, Mr Speaker, that when it comes down to it, it does not matter what the government says about compensation. Compensation is only delivered when injury has happened. And the government is determined to injure the Australian people. You do not have to compensate people if you do not cause injury. The second key fact associated with that—bear this in mind—is that the government will collect more money than it gives back to the Australian people. It is boasting that it is going to deliver so-called tax cuts and increased pensions, but the fundamental point here is that for almost every dollar it gives Australians it is collecting two dollars out of every Australian's pocket. The government can talk about tax cuts and compensation, but it is meaningless for Australians because ultimately Australians will pay the price. Whether it is 500 or a thousand, as Ross Garnaut said: every Australian will pay the price. That is the fundamental point. The cost is real; the impact is real. The second key point is trust. We cannot trust what the Prime Minister or the Treasurer say. The Prime Minister said before the election 'no carbon tax'; now we are facing a carbon tax. The Prime Minister said that there will be no carbon tax under a government she leads. Well, she leads this incompetent government but now we have a carbon tax. And the Prime Minister said, as recently as in the last 48 hours, that a thousand big polluters would pay. Now we discover it is 500. Yet I would expect the revenue raised to be just the same. And as the Leader of the Opposition pointed out—through the government's own publication—even if they exclude petrol at the pump for households the costs for households will increase. That is the word of the government; it is not confected, it is not designed by us. It is reality that every Australian will pay because somehow, in some way, whether it is $10 billion a year or $11 billion a year, the fundamental truth endures that it comes out of the pockets of Australians. That is what will be the real impact of this tax. It is so fundamental. The third key factor is this: everything comes down to the confusion that will be generated. This is not just about the tax, it is not just about a lack of trust in the government; it is about the confusion that will be wreaked. These are the three key components of why the carbon tax is a flawed tax: it is costly, it is confused, and whatever this government says cannot be trusted. What we know is that as soon as the government introduces a second component, going from a carbon tax to an ETS, it will add confusion. And when the government says it is going to exclude some people and not others it adds confusion. No wonder the Treasurer could not answer the question in this place about whether a landscaper would have to pay tax on the fuel that goes into a mower or into a chainsaw—yet those are the key components of a landscaper's business. The government could not even answer that simple question. I give the government a very clear warning: some of us were around for the GST debate and we had to answer, day in and day out, at public forums and everywhere else, questions about how the tax would be applied, who would be affected, how they would be affected and whether there would be enough compensation for everyday Australians. I say to you, Mr Deputy Speaker: we will pursue this issue until the election. We will pursue this issue until the government explains to the Australian people—individually if necessary—the exact details of how Australians are affected, because the Prime Minister lied to those Australians. She specifically told an untruth. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. Peter Slipper ): Order! The honourable member will withdraw the word 'lie'. Mr HOCKEY: I will withdraw the term 'lie' and say that the Prime Minister deliberately misled the Australian people. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The honourable member will withdraw that term. He is not able to reflect upon the Prime Minister other than by way of substantive motion. Mr HOCKEY: Yes, I will withdraw that as well, Mr Deputy Speaker. You have reduced my argument to nothing, because I am only telling the truth. Mr Gray: Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order. I ask that the withdrawal be made unreservedly. I believe it is not unreasonable to regard that as a qualified withdrawal. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: My understanding is that the member for North Sydney did withdraw unreservedly. Is that correct? Mr HOCKEY: I withdraw unreservedly. It is as simple as this: the Treasurer said less than 30 days ago that the budget would be neutral in terms of the effect of the carbon tax; today we discover it is going to cost $4 billion. We thought it was a thousand companies; today it is 500. We were of the understanding that the government was going to take weeks and months to sort this out; now it appears that it is all happening on Sunday. This is not the way to run a country. It is like a bad episode of Bewitched. The problem is that the Treasurer is old Darrin, the one who does not know what is going on. And he has a hostile mother-in-law, old Agnes. Do you remember Agnes? She makes something appear then disappear. The budget is going to be neutral then all of a sudden it is going to cost $4 billion. There are 1000 companies and then all of a sudden there are 500 companies. Old Darrin does not know what is going on. I loved that show. We all loved Darrin's confusion. The only problem is that Darrin is the Treasurer of Australia. The only problem is that old 'Durwood', as Agnes used to call him, is the Deputy Prime Minister. An opposition member: Endora. Mr HOCKEY: Endora, that's right! Agnes Moorehead—we miss her. I would say this: when you look at the details and lack of confidence in the Australian community, you say to yourself, 'How has it happened so quickly?' With the best terms of trade in 140 years, you would think that Australia is doing well. With an unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent and more full-time jobs created, you would think every Australian would think they are doing well. But the fact is that this tax will affect the things that Australians need, not what they want. It may have little impact on computers, it may have little impact on the cost of purchasing a TV, but it will have a direct, immediate impact on the cost of electricity, something every Australian family has to buy. It will have an immediate impact on the cost of housing, something Australians need. It will have an impact on the cost of water because pumping water to people's homes costs money. It will have an impact on the plumber and the electrician. It will have an impact on the builder's labourer and it will have an impact on the brickie. It will have an impact right cross the economy, on the things that people need on a daily basis. As the Leader of the Opposition pointed out, if this tax is meant to have any impact on the environment, it has to hurt people. The government would have you believe that this is not going to hurt, but the truth is that it is going to hurt the Australian economy at a time when Australia cannot afford it. It will be the biggest economy-wide tax on carbon in the world. If it is not the biggest today, it will be in three, four or five years. Now the true agenda has been revealed. If the Prime Minister does not know what is happening in her government, if the Treasurer does not know what is happening in his government, if the member for New England or the member for Lyne do not know what is going on, it proves that what we have said is true—that the Greens are in power and the Greens are running the country. Sadly, that is a poor reflection on this mob.