Mr McCORMACK (Riverina—Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development and Leader of The Nationals) (14:20): I thank the member for his question. His constituents understand the impact that introducing a carbon tax would have on the communities, the businesses and the farming families in regional Australia, particularly in his electorate of Dawson, and more generally North Queensland. Most people in this place clearly understand that any introduction of a carbon tax is really code for making things more expensive. A carbon tax makes things dearer for business, for industry, for farmers and, indeed, for households. Those opposite had a plan for $387 billion of additional taxes going into the 18 May election. Most opposite have not yet walked away from those policies, and shame on them for that. Australians know. Australians voted for our plan, our 2 April budget, which was to drive down costs. Would you believe that just yesterday someone somewhere from Labor said, 'Do we have to talk about carbon price again? Of course we do. It has to be part of the mix if we're to meet our Paris targets.' Who could it be? Will he out himself? Was it the member for Hindmarsh? The member for Holt? Perhaps it was the member for Hotham. Those opposite have learned nothing from the last election. The people of Queensland know very well what a carbon tax would do, and they voted very clearly against a potential carbon tax. Just ask the members for Dawson, for Herbert, for Flynn and for Capricornia: how good is Queensland? Because they know the big impost that a carbon tax would have on their communities, and we, across this side of the House, stick up for our local communities. On this side of the House, we'll continue to stick up for jobs, to stick up for families and to stick up for farmers. Electricity would become more expensive under a carbon tax. Transport, food, building materials and clothing—it'll all go up. It would have gone up under the $387 billion tax slug those opposite would have inflicted on Australians. When it comes to infrastructure, as the member for Grayndler would well know, steel would go up, concrete would go up and the cost of bitumen would go up. For the inland rail, the thousands of tonnes of Liberty steel and South Australian steel would all go up under the Labor policies espoused by one of those opposite. We know who he is. The member for Paterson knows that Tomago smelter would collapse under his carbon tax. Thank you, member for Hunter! We don't need it.