CAR INDUSTRY BOSS LAMENTS COSTLY CARBON TAX
07-December-2011
Mike Devereux, President of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, today reaffirmed that the carbon tax is a heavy and unfair cost that will be imposed on local manufacturers yet competing imports will be exempt.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Mr Devereux in answer to a media question about the carbon tax said:
For the industry, we estimate that between 30 to 50 million dollars a year in increased costs will have to flow into the local industry. Whether or not we are able to recoup what is really a tax on just the locally-made vehicles. Because, if you think about it, the 85% of the vehicles that are imported (to Australia), they don't have any carbon tax associated with them…… a carbon tax will add cost which is a different path I think for Australia.
Mr Devereux also raised the subject of sovereign risk:
It was a blow when the Green Car Fund was taken away … what happened is a long-term plan was changed and in our industry, our cycles for investment and product development if I'm looking five or six years out, I have to make decisions now about what to build and where to build it. You need that consistency and certainty over time, no matter what the policies are. In the past, Australia has had very contemporary intelligent policies in terms of support to the auto industry.
Industry needs policy certainty and consistency and a genuine understanding of the factors that affect investment.
It’s clear the car industry has not received this from the Gillard Government with its series of sudden back flips and broken promises. And now its desire to impose a carbon tax will only add to already intense competitive pressures.