Beers and bickies hit under Labor’s carbon plan

Pressure will be put on the price of some common everyday groceries under Labor’s carbon emissions reduction plan.

PRESSURE will be put on the price of biscuits, beers, soft drink, and groceries under Labor’s carbon plan, which will capture some household name brands under an expanded cap-and-trade carbon scheme.

The food and groceries industry has warned against unintended consequences from significant policy change, while the Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the cost of dinner and school lunches will soar.

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But Labor said households would save money on power and petrol bills and that they will work with industry on how the scheme is implemented, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said dealing with climate change could not be put off to another generation.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten in an electric car after launching Labor's Climate Change Action Plan in Canberra. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

It follows the release yesterday of Labor’s plan to reached 45 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

It includes extending the Turnbull Government’s cap-and-trade scheme on the 140 top polluting companies to 250 companies, and setting a target of electric vehicles to make up 50 per cent of all new car sales.

AgForce CEO Mike Guerin also warned the plan to roll out Queensland’s tree clearing restrictions nationally would choke farmers with more bureaucracy and red tape.

According to Clean Energy Regulator data, more than 100 companies will be captured under Labor’s plan to lower the threshold for when the carbon cap applies.

Aldi, Arnotts, Bega, Coca-Cola, Ingham, Lion, McCain, Nestle, Parmalat, Pepsico, Queensland Rail, NSW Trains, OzMinerals, Stockland, Telstra, Wrigley would all be affected.

Coke-Cola is one of the companies which would be impacted by Labor’s proposal to expand the cap-and-trade scheme to include 250 of the top polluting companies. Picture: AFP PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Australian Food and Grocery Council CEO Tanya Barden said the sector was already investing heavily in energy efficiency measures.

“We will need to see the details because any sudden or significant change in policy could have unintended consequences at a time when industry is already struggling with high costs,” she said.

Mr Taylor said the additional companies captured would not make a significant impact on the 1.3 billion tonnes of emissions reduction needed to meet the 45 per cent target.

“You can expect the cost of dinner and school lunches will soar – because consumers will ultimately pay for Labor’s economy wrecking emissions targets.

“It’s a lot of pain for very little gain.”

He said it was a “Trojan horse” for a carbon tax.

A Labor spokeswoman said no one took the Liberal party seriously on climate policy.

“This is the Liberals’ own mechanism – we’ve listened to business who want stability and that’s what this offers,” she said.

“We will consult with industry on the baselines and we will work with entities on their trajectories.”

Mr Shorten said the cost of doing nothing was higher than taking action on climate change.

“It’s about not putting off the problems of carbon pollution to another generation, merely because of disunity and dysfunction in the current government,” he said.