Workers 'not fooled' by carbon scare campaign

Mining and construction workers support a carbon tax because "they aren't fools" and recognise it won't hurt the industry, a union boss has told a federal inquiry.

The scare campaign being waged by the mining industry had failed to have an impact as the workers could see companies continuing to post huge profits, said Tony Maher from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

"Since the announcement of the Bill, members have reported to me increased installation of methane drainage and gas power turbines in the gassy mines," said Maher, the National President of the CFMEU's mining and energy division.

"(A) major company said they've been factoring in a carbon price for years and that's of course at odds with the scare campaign. We think the scare campaign isn't getting traction for obvious reasons - people aren't fools.

"The people that it does confuse are the ones who don't work in the industry and only have the mass media for a source of information."

Speaking to the federal parliamentary inquiry on Clean Energy Bills in Sydney on Wednesday, Maher said the union members he speaks to back the tax.

"We think they're plainly wrong as the industry is booming and when you compare what they say in their annual reports to shareholders with what they say in the scare campaign both cannot be true," he said.

Westpac told the inquiry it supported the need for a carbon tax as a "required economic reform". Emma Herd, Westpac Director of Emissions and Environment, said business was already managing carbon risk with investment and lending decisions.

"So, not having a regulatory regime does not mean that you would not have to manage carbon risk," Herd told the inquiry.

"We would definitely argue that the sooner business has the certainty around the framework and certainty around the rules, then they are in a much better position to manage down the costs - both for their own operations and also for their consumers and their customers in terms of managing their carbon price risk."

Natural gas and electricity company AGL said it also supported the certainty that would come with a carbon price.

"Overall, we've put out to market that we would be a net beneficiary under the introduction of a carbon price," AGL Head of Economic Policy Tim Nelson said.

Source: AAP NewsWire