“ORDINARY families will cop the brunt of Labor’s carbon tax hit squarely in their hip-pockets,” Leader of the Nationals Warren Truss told a rally of over 3,000 protesters outside Parliament House in Canberra today

“Increased cost pressures faced by companies will inevitably be passed on to consumers”.

“That’s not a scare tactic, it’s the very purpose of the regressive carbon tax trigger… to make families think twice before they switch on the air conditioner in summer or turn the heater on in winter.”

“If the point of a carbon tax is to curb demand by making everyday goods and services more expensive and, thereby, force people to limit their use or go without, then promises to compensate families for those soaring costs simply make no sense and should be taken with a grain of salt.”

The rally saw community outrage vented at the Gillard Government’s pre-election ‘no carbon tax’ duplicity, with Mr Truss drawing attention to the Prime Minister’s latest ‘polluter’s pay’ furphy.

“The Prime Minister has been at great pains to justify her deceit by saying that only polluters will pay, but that’s not true. In the end, increased cost pressures faced by companies will inevitably be passed on to consumers.

“Either the Prime Minister knows this very well and is trying to score more ‘frequent liar points’ or she simply doesn’t understand the basic relationship between higher business input costs and consumer price hikes. Either way, she is less than convincing”, said the Nationals leader.

“With just a $26 per tonne carbon price, electricity bills will rise by $300, gas up by 10%, petrol up 6.5 cents per litre (plus GST), water and groceries will all be slugged. And that’s just the start.

“These, and other, basic considerations will weigh heavily on mums’ and dads’ minds should the Federal Government pursues this insidious tax.

“The government’s sales pitch is to slug you with one hand, then compensate you with the other. Australians know when they are being sold a lemon. That’s why people feel moved to turn out and protest today.

“The Prime Minister’s pledge to compensate families defies her own policy objectives and beggars belief.

“Higher costs imposed on Australian industry and farmers will simply make Australian industry less competitive and imports from countries that do not have a carbon tax cheaper. CO2 emissions will not fall, but Australian jobs will be exported to carbon tax-free economies.”