Linfox throws weight behind pro-carbon tax coalition, SME campaign tipped next

A coalition of businesses has thrown its support behind the Government’s push to put a price on carbon, with trucking company Linfox a surprise supporter.

And there are expectations a small business coalition will also come out in support for the politically sensitive plan.

David McInnes, Linfox Group Manager of Sustainability says Linfox hasn’t always supported a price on carbon.

“Many of our customers are North American and European-based companies, and we’ve come to the realisation that the world is heading to a low-carbon future,” McInnes told SmartCompany.

“We need to be on the same page as them.”

“It’s not a radical view.”

McInnes says while a carbon price is viewed as an inevitability by many companies and countries overseas, here it is a “big step in its own right” and many multinationals like supermarket giant Tesco are a “long way ahead of Australia.”

“Rather than waiting around for the ultimate model, we think it’s important to make a start,” he says.

Linfox is one of 22 groups publicly supporting the introduction of a price on carbon. They include multinationals (BP, Fujitsu, GE Australia and Ikea), super funds (Catholic Super and Local Government Super), and local companies (AGL and Pacific Hydro).

Together they argue that Australia must aim to be “globally competitive in clean energy efficiency and low-carbon technology.”

“As the costs of action are outweighed by the costs of delay, the carbon price should be implemented as soon as possible,” the group of businesses said in a statement released yesterday.

The coalition of businesses also says a second group of SMEs is forming to further support the sentiment.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet yesterday promised more than half of the revenue from the tax would be distributed to low and middle-income households, adding the Government expects millions of households to be better off. The compensation will be permanent.

The Government, which is looking to introduce a fixed-priced carbon tax next year before introducing an emissions trading scheme down the track, has yet to declare a price on carbon. Treasury forecasts recently released tipped a tax would increase household costs by up to $863 a year.

Combet is looking to introduce the relevant legislation later this year.

But the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has questioned whether the tax is in the national interest, and says SMEs will be disproportionately hurt.

“Industry must not allow announcements about compensation to divert attention away from the threshold question of whether the proposed model or timing of a carbon tax is in Australia’s national interest or capable of making a real difference to the environment,” ACCI chief Peter Anderson says.

“Small and medium business will effectively carry a larger proportion of the tax burden as some larger businesses and low income households get compensated, leaving those in the middle under a tighter squeeze.”

He also says compensation is “not capable of recouping the price of lost competitiveness or jobs.”

But McInnes says he does not expect the introduction of a carbon tax to lead to job losses at Linfox, and the company’s push to reduce its emissions has actually saved it money.

“Reducing emissions is good for business. We’ve found that we have made economic gains out of reducing energy use,” McInnes says.

“It’s been quite a surprising and powerful lesson for us – we expected it to cost us something but hasn’t.”

He notes that while people have jumped up and down at the prospect of a carbon tax – which would add three cents per litre of diesel at a $10 per tonne price – wild fluctuations in fuel prices have been met with a shrug of the shoulders.

McInnes believes the change to a low-carbon economy will be ahead, particularly in the developed world, and cautions that the Coalition is unlikely to be able to scrap the tax.

“The history of Governments rolling back programs is not strong,” McInnes says, referring to the introduction of the goods and services tax, which the then Labor Opposition promised to claw back.