Senator EDWARDS (South Australia) (16:37): I rise to speak on this matter of public importance: the growing evidence of the effects of the Gillard government's carbon tax on the viability of small business. Obviously, I must make some reference to Senator Thistlethwaite's contribution here today. He talks about his time in Orange. I would ask the senator if he would like to tell me a bit later how many empty shops he passed as he was walking down the street. Senator Thistlethwaite: None actually. Senator EDWARDS: Because retailers in this country are not exactly experiencing a buoyant time. I walk up and down the streets of many country towns and rural centres. In a recent food processing inquiry I walked down the streets of Shepparton in Victoria where there were some 84—and now are I believe some 130—shops vacant due to the fact that there is so much uncertainty in this electorate. Don't go now, Senator Thistlethwaite because I am going to tell you about the policy that we are going to bring to this place when the Australian people get an opportunity to go to the polls about the way in which you have been running this country for the last five to six years. We are going to axe this carbon tax which you have imposed upon the Australian people in what has to be one of the greatest electoral lies in this Federation's history. Senator Thistlethwaite talked about a slack and below par argument. He said, 'Small business are all out there having an absolute wonderful time.' You, Senator Farrell, would know. The Clare Valley, Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra great wine regions in South Australia are not having a very good time. There is the high Australian dollar. There is an inability to access capital for an industry which has been in a great deal of need for capital. Unfortunately, now what have they got? Rising energy costs because we have a carbon tax on energy. One of the biggest bottom line items for South Australia's greatest and most famous industry is energy costs going up some 18 per cent in what is a constricted market. These people work in an environment where those they sell to in this country—Coles, Metcash, Woolworths—have already said to people in these industries that they will not accept price rises on their product because of the carbon tax. So what happens? The producers of wine in South Australia say, 'Okay, we cannot pass it on to our retailer because they have massive concentration of power, so what do we do with it now? What is the next thing? The only piece of elastic in this whole argument is the dear old farmer. Let's go and have a crack at the farmer.' Instead of getting $1,200 or $1,500 or $1,800 a tonne, the farmers are getting $800 or $600 a tonne because the wineries cannot go out of business, so they push back to the easiest possible price mechanism in their cost of goods which is the farmer. Senator Thistlethwaite, these are the small businesses you talk about? I think not. What about the automotive parts manufacturers? Their energy costs have gone through the roof. In South Australia in my patron seat of Wakefield, where General Motors Holden and a plethora of other firms supply that important industry, an industry which your government over there has seen fit to supply with $220 million, but what compensation did the car parts manufacturers get? Nothing. They are an essential part of the chain but they did not get anything and they have just been hit with this carbon tax. Senator Thistlethwaite, is that one of the small businesses that are flourishing on this wonderful set of numbers which in any other time you would have to say are great? No, there is no confidence out there. You talk about not being able to operate where the environment is going to take our productivity. Your own man, the Climate Change Commissioner Tim Flannery, has been on the record to say it might be 500 or it might be 1,000 years before we notice the difference. The rest of the world gets that. I have been fortunate enough to see industry in Asia in recent times. They are opening coal-fired and nuclear power stations—a power generator to the tune of one a week through those countries. What are they doing? Are they applying an emissions cost impost on business? No, they are not. We stand out like a beacon of silliness in what was and should have been a big lesson coming from Copenhagen that the rest of the world was not prepared to take it on. Yet we stand out here because of this murky little alliance with the Greens. I know a lot of you on the other side sort of choke on this whole carbon tax thing and all you reasonable ones over there did not want it. But you had to take it because that was the cost of government. It is about trust, Senator Polley, and you know it is about trust because all the numbers look okay but business— Senator Polley: Mr Acting Deputy President, the comments should be made through the chair, not directed at senators. I call on you to explain that to this new senator. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Furner ): I remind the senator to direct his comments through the chair. Senator EDWARDS: Through you, Mr Acting Deputy President: you are quite right, Senator Polley. I will do that. One day I when I am not so new I will work through those issues. It has been seven weeks since the world's biggest carbon tax began under the Gillard government. The headline on the front page of today's Advertiser—that is our home daily—reads: 'Our carbon pain: small business reeling under strain of new tax.' It states that a national survey of 186 small firms found that 50 per cent are reporting carbon tax related price hikes to power bills and other supplies. But only 33 per cent are passing their costs onto customers. Do you know why? It is because they will not let them. By the way, this paper is not exactly renowned for being all that friendly to my side of politics. Certainly, the paper is putting it out there, right on the front page, for everybody in my state to see who is being burdened by the rising prices in South Australia, which I outlined before. They include 18 per cent on energy; 40 per cent on power bills; and, in the last generic CPI, 5.6 per cent on groceries. Goodness gracious me! And we are going to give people $10.10 in compensation. This is why there is no confidence. People are not spending their money in the businesses. They are not rushing out and buying new cars. They are not doing that. I think it is somewhat ironic that we are going to give a $5,000 benefit, an instant write-off, to business while Australian industry reels under this carbon tax. All that will do is make it more affordable for people to buy imported vehicles. The unintended consequences of this tax are profound. Let us have a look at some of the figures for South Australia. According to the ANZ job statistics there were 18 per cent fewer job adds last month compared to the same time 12 months ago. Last month's statistics are particularly concerning, given that South Australia's unemployment rate increased to 6.4 per cent—an increase of 1.2 per cent from June. Those figures are even worse in the seat of Wakefield. The member for Wakefield, Nick Champion, presides over an unemployment rate of 9.4 per cent. In terms of anybody's maths, that is double the average for the number of Australians out of work. And what should we do? In the heavily industrialised area of the northern suburbs of Adelaide, let us put in a handbrake, let us put in a boat anchor, let us call it a carbon price and then let us see how many jobs we can create as a flow-on of that in the industrial area of the northern suburbs of Adelaide. A Kalangadoo business in the south-east of South Australia, Pete's Fish Farm, produces rainbow trout. It will close in the next 12 months due to soaring electricity costs. His electricity rates jumped from 22.7c to 36.39c. This is just another nail in the coffin. The up-line buyers of his produce now say that they will not take any further price rises. This one is just a mess for Labor.