NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell says the carbon tax will cost jobs and has maintained his opposition to the plan.
Speaking to the Weekender in Penrith last Friday, Mr O’Farrell said he was concerned about what the impact would be on jobs in western Sydney and Australia’s manufacturing industry as a whole when the tax is introduced next month.
“It’ll be bad for consumers because everything is going to go up in price, it’ll be bad for employees because it’s going to cost jobs, it’s bad for the state and it’s bad for the nation,” he said.
“In one fell swoop on July 1 we do away with one of Australia’s greatest competitive advantages for our economy, which is low cost energy based on coal.
“We support manufacturing, we oppose the carbon tax… we understand it’s bad for the western Sydney economy.”
Mr O’Farrell slammed Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for the implementation of the tax despite not having a public mandate.
“She’s deaf to the concerns of the community about issues like the carbon tax,” he said.
“I don’t think she understood when she decided to introduce the carbon tax what breaking a promise meant to the Australian public.”
Mr O’Farrell has obvious support from Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, who continues his assault on the tax.
“I think the more people see of the carbon tax the less they’ll like it,” he said.
“I think the public understand that compensation is for today but the tax is forever and it’s just going to go up and up and up as time goes by.”
