The Gillard Government today announced new funding for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to crack down on any business that seeks to gouge its customers by making misleading claims about the impact of putting a price on carbon pollution.
The ACCC will use its powers under the newly introduced Australian Consumer Law to investigate and prosecute any such business with the power to impose penalties of up to $1.1 million.
The carbon price will have only a modest impact on most prices and the ACCC will be keeping a watchful eye out for any shonky attempts to jack up prices and falsely claim it is related to the carbon price.
The Government will direct the ACCC to give the highest priority to:
* Investigating and taking action against any business that makes false or misleading representations about the impact of the carbon price on the price they charge consumers
* Educating businesses on their obligations to not make false or misleading statements to consumers about the impact of the carbon price on the price they charge consumers.
* Raising awareness amongst consumers by informing them that businesses are prohibited from making false statements about the impact of putting a price on pollution.
The Government has provided ACCC new funding of $12.8 million over 4 years to carry out this role as part of the Clean Energy Future package.
We recognise the vast majority of businesses will do the right thing. This funding will help stop the small number of businesses that may seek to take advantage of their customers with false and misleading claims about the impact of the carbon price.
As we put in place the arrangements over the next 12 months, we will work with the ACCC, consumer groups, businesses and the broader community to ensure appropriate protections are in place for Australian consumers.
The carbon pricing mechanism will apply to around 500 of Australia's largest polluters. Some businesses will pass on the carbon price, leading to modest rises in prices.
In 2012-13, this price increase is expected to be 0.7 percent according to extensive Treasury modelling.
The GST and related changes to the tax system pushed up prices more than three times as much as the carbon price is expected to.
Many prices, particularly for food, will hardly be affected. The average grocery bill for a household will go up about 80 cents a week.
To help meet the price impact on households, more than half of the revenue raised by putting a price on carbon pollution will go to fund tax cuts and extra payments and allowances. This will mean:
* Nine out of ten households will receive some assistance through a combination of tax cuts and increased payments
* Almost 6 million households will get assistance to cover their entire average price impact
* Over four million households will receive assistance that exceeds their expected average price impact, leaving their household budget better off.
This assistance is designed to help low and middle-income households and pensioners do their bit to tackle climate change and look after their household budgets.