MID:Premier says govt treating public mugs

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2011
MID:Premier says govt treating public mugs

SYDNEY, April 13 AAP - NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says the federal government is treating
the public like mugs by telling them they will be better off under a carbon tax compensation
scheme.

Federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet will on Wednesday announce the broad details
of billion dollar compensation package, which he claims will leave millions of households
better off than they are now.

But Mr O'Farrell, who campaigned against the carbon tax in the lead up to his landslide
win at the March 26 state election, ridiculed the claim.

"They really do treat the public like mugs, don't they?" he told reporters in in western Sydney.

"On the one hand we had a prime minister go into an election campaign saying there
would be no carbon tax, and that promise was broken.

"Now, today, we're going to get a promise that families will be better off as a result
of the carbon tax.

"The public simply don't believe Labor any more on these issues."

Mr O'Farrell said he would speak to Prime Minister Julia Gillard about the tax when
the two met in Sydney on Thursday, their first face to face meeting since the state election.

"The best way to compensate for a carbon tax is to listen to the outcome of the state
election, where people amongst other things said no to the federal carbon tax," Mr O'Farrell
said.

"The idea that you collect a carbon tax and hand it back is going to cost, it's going
to cost in bureaucracy alone."

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KEYWORD: CLIMATE OFARRELL

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