5AA Breakfast with Leon Byner: Belair Hotel

August 16, 2012

Leon Byner: The Federal Member for Boothby, Andrew Southcott has called in. Andrew, to what do we owe the pleasure of your call this morning?

Andrew Southcott: Good Morning Leon, I just wanted to add to the comments that you’d had on the Belair Hotel. We’re now starting to see a number of businesses who are getting their monthly power bills, and the bill does show very clearly that the off peak power rate has increased from 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour, to just over 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and that two cents increase, or 44.77% is listed on AGL’s bill as a “Carbon Adjustment”, and one of the things that the Prime Minister has said is that’s the whole point of a carbon tax, to see an increase in the price of electricity, but as you identified on your program we’re going to see it passed on to consumers through counter meals, through the bottle-o, through on premise drinking as well.

Leon Byner: Well you see, the Government have got to be honest about this. They’re saying well that’s what we want, so the problem is for those people who do not pass on their prices it could cost jobs. Now, during this whole rhetoric campaign, there was a denial that this would cost jobs. In fact it was told that we would be creating them, well you’ve just heard the hotelier say we have two choices. We may not be able to put our charges because customers are price resistant for reasons we understand, so therefore it might mean fewer casuals, certainly jobs are on the line here.

Andrew Southcott: That’s absolutely right, and what I find from small businesses in my electorate, they’re very concerned about the current climate, especially people who are in any side of the retail sector have found that things have been very soft over the last 12 months. Thankfully we haven’t seen large increases in unemployment over the last couple of years but certainly small business are doing it tough, and the other thing I find from families is there is enormous concern about the cost of living and this will only add to that.

Leon Byner: Alright Andrew, thank you for that.


Read the Adelaide Now article on the Belair Hotel's electricity price increases.

Read my question to the Prime Minister about the effect the Carbon Tax has had on the Belair Hotel.

Watch the 7:30 Report segment with the Belair Hotel's manager discussing the effect the Carbon Tax will have on his business