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Staff Reporter
While Australians wait for details to be released, it is already widely expected that the carbon tax will have a negative impact on new housing, the Housing Industry Association has claimed.
“It is inevitable that jobs in Australia’s residential building sector and building product manufacturing sector will be lost under a carbon tax,” said HIA’s chief executive Graham Wolfe said.
"The Federal Government’s intentions are clear – make businesses pay for the carbon emissions they produce,”
“What we don’t yet know is how much.”
According to Mr Wolfe, a carbon tax will inevitably mean a less competitive manufacturing sector against imports from non-CO2-e taxing countries.
“Today the Federal Government acknowledged Australia’s relatively low-emission coal sector, but to date it has not correspondingly weighed up the impact of losing Australian manufacturing and processing operations to offshore, where carbon emissions are higher,” he said.
"If production goes offshore, so too will Australian jobs.
While it is still too early to know exactly how much the carbon tax will add to the cost of an average new home, HIA estimates that it will increase by over $6,000 under a $20 per tonne CO2-e price, less the yet to be confirmed compensation measures, which are estimated to lower the additional cost by less than 15 per cent.
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