Chamber of Commerce Queensland and Industry Queensland

This week the Senate considers the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation. This will be one of the most import issues for the Australian business community in recent memory.

CCIQ recently conducted a survey on business views on the proposed Scheme. The results of this survey are provided below and will be forwarded to all Queensland Senators to aid in their consideration of the legislation.

Queensland businesses overwhelmingly (84%) believe the Senate should delay passage of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) through Parliament until after the Climate Change debate at Copenhagen in December.

A Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland (CCIQ) survey found businesses were sceptical of the government's planned CPRS with 88% regarding the scheme as little more than a new tax. Businesses believe the CPRS will decrease their competitiveness in an extremely difficult trading environment therefore any move to implement an Australian CPRS should be delayed until our global competitors agree on measures to limit the effects of climate change.

A clear majority (68%) believe that they will be affected by any measure introduced to minimise climate change. Perhaps even more significantly, the percentage who now understand that CPRS will impact on their operations is considerably greater than those in our survey 12 months ago. (55%)

Interestingly the percentage of businesses realising that the impact will be largely negative (83%) is substantially higher than twelve months ago (59%). Conversely the number of businesses who expected positive impacts or opportunities 12 months ago has drastically reduced due to knowledge gained in this period that there will be a huge increase in energy costs.

When asked what the impact of the Commonwealth Treasury's forecasted 18% rise in energy prices would be on their business, only 34% (where energy is either a minor cost or the increase is easily passed on to the customer) believed it would have a minor impact on their business.

The vast majority of businesses indicated that the associated energy cost increases would range between having a critical to moderate impact on their business. Alarmingly in excess of 10% of businesses thought forthcoming increases in energy prices would have a critical impact on their operations with the potential to threaten their very viability. Of particular concern a third of business are already indicating that the risks associated with climate change mitigation strategies are influencing their firm's investment decisions.

33% of businesses indicated it would have a major impact causing the business to reduce employment or investment. 23% of businesses believed it would have a moderate impact and reduce their profitability.

Finally 82% of businesses are desperate for information from Government on how CPRS will impact on them. As any implementation is imminent, businesses must be able to assess any implications and plan for them.

However, given the noticeable absence of information it is little wonder that businesses are split between developing strategies and plans to reduce the risks or to capitalise on opportunities that may arise. Furthermore this split has certainly not changed over the past twelve months. Given the absence of usable information businesses remain in the position of being unable to plan.

CCIQ is urging the Federal Government to delay any implementation of a CPRS until such time as other countries with similar industrial profiles as Australia agree to and implement their own emissions trading arrangements.

1. Do you think that there is enough information available to you to enable you to determine how climate change may affect your business and the best way for your business to respond to climate change?

2. Do you think that climate change (or measures introduced to minimise climate change) will have an impact on your business?

3. If you answered yes to Question 2, what do you think the overall impact on your business will be?

4. Are you developing strategies and plans to reduce the risks and/or to capitalise on opportunities that may arise for your business in the future as a result of climate change?

5. Have the risks associated with climate change (or climate change mitigation strategies) influenced your firm’s investment decisions?

6. The Australian Treasury has estimated that electricity prices will increase by around 18 per cent in response to the introduction of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. What impact is this increase likely to have on your business?

7. Do you regard the implementation of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as a new tax?

8. Should the Federal Government delay passage/implementation of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation until there is a global agreement reached at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit December 2009?

We welcome your feedback ahead of the Senate's vote on this issue. Please contact us with your name, location and brief comments by email at policy@cciq.com.au.

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