GASH APPOINTED TO CARBON TAX INQUIRY

Gilmore MP, Joanna Gash has been appointed to the Joint Select Committee of Federal Parliament which will inquire into the social and economic impact of the Government’s Carbon Tax legislation.

Mrs Gash said that while she was honoured to have been selected, she felt that the Committee was already ‘loaded’ right at the start.

“I am one of five Coalition Members on the panel.

“The other nine members are from Labor, the Greens and an Independent.

“Already they have used their numbers to appoint a Labor Chair and Greens Christine Milne the Deputy Chair.

“That appointment alone is an arrogant and deliberate disregard for the long established convention that the Deputy Chair to a Committee is always appointed from the major Opposition Party.

“Considering that Christine Milne was a key architect of the Carbon Tax legislation, and is very much in bed with Labor, it must be clear even to ‘blind Freddy’ what the real purpose of this committee is.

Mrs Gash said the 19 Carbon Tax Bills contained over 1,100 pages of legislation.

“Just three weeks has been given the Committee to accept submissions, to consider the detail of a very complex matter and to make recommendations.

“Clearly the parameters are inadequate and as far as I’m concerned this is just a farce designed to lend credibility to what is already showing itself to be the deceit upon which the Carbon Tax is being built.

“This committee is a ‘set up’ and I have no confidence that it will deliver an objective analysis of the real impact of this tax – it is designed purely and simply to sweep concerns under the carpet”, Mrs Gash said.

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