July 17, 2012

Carbon tax to lift Australian seafood costs

Carbon tax will result higher costs in the fishing sector of Australia, thereby increasing seafood prices, according to the opposition.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his small business spokesman Bruce Billson hit the Melbourne fish markets at dawn on Wednesday to underline the impact of the tax on the seafood industry,

"We want Australians to eat Australian seafood," Billson told reporters.

But he said the local industry would be disadvantaged by a carbon tax that wasn't paid by its international competitors, making Australian seafood more expensive than it needed to be.

Abbott said the carbon tax will affect the seafood industry at every level.

"It's going to hit diesel that trawlers use. It's going to hit power costs. It's going to radically increase costs of refrigeration," he told reporters. "It will just get worse and worse as the carbon tax goes up and up."

Abbott also criticised the government's conservation efforts with the creation of fishing-free marine parks.

He said the Australian fishing industry was the most environmentally responsible in the world.

"The coalition certainly supports sustainable fisheries," he said. "The last thing the fishermen of Australia want to do is destroy the environment that provides them with a living. "Fishermen, farmers and foresters of Australia are our true conservationists."