Last week when the Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised to wear out the leather in her shoes selling the carbon tax to the Australian people, she made a commitment to Australia to sell to them the carbon tax.

A group of 9 vegetable and potato growers today issued an open invitation to the Prime Minister to come and visit any of their farms so they can demonstrate how significant the impacts of the carbon tax will be upon their businesses.

AUSVEG is the National Peak Industry Body for Australia’s 9,000 vegetable and potato growers.

“The Carbon tax will drive up the cost of production for these businesses” said AUSVEG Public Affairs Manager William Churchill. “Power increases alone will cause significant heartache as irrigation and refrigeration become more expensive.”

“What the Australian vegetable and potato industries face is another blow to the profitability of their businesses. This tax will further affect our growers’ ability to remain competitive against overseas imports produced without these imposts.”

“We have seen much rhetoric about how the carbon tax will force operators to switch to new cleaner energy options. A visit to these farms will demonstrate how growers already have the best gear to minimise costs. As a price taking industry growers can only remain viable by cutting their overheads.”

“The question we ask is this; how are growers expected to continue improving their businesses when they are being hit with these increased costs and there is no scheme to assist them” said Mr Churchill.

Growers in the below regions would all welcome the Prime Minister to see firsthand the challenges growers will face under the carbon tax.

AUSVEG will be pleased to provide local media contact details for these growers if interviews are requested.
Michael Nixon: Carnarvon WA,
Andrew Bogdanich: Wanneroo WA,
Romeo Giangregorio: Virginia SA,
Andrew Craigie: Latrobe TAS,
John Said: Werribee VIC,
Luis Gazzola: Somerville VIC,
Peter Ward: Colo NSW,
Robert Hinrichsen: Kalbar QLD,
David Nix: Atherton QLD.

“From Carnarvon to Kalbar, Atherton to Latrobe, our entire industry will be hit hard by this tax” said Mr Churchill.

ENDS
MEDIA CONTACT: William Churchill, Public Affairs Manager, AUSVEG Ph: (03) 9822 0388
Mobile:04 111 66 748 Email: william.churchill@ausveg,com.au