YESTERDAY’S vote by the Senate to repeal the carbon tax is great news for families and small businesses in Eden-Monaro according to local MP Peter Hendy. 

 “Scrapping the carbon tax will save the average household around $550 a year, including around $200 on the average household electricity bill and around $70 on the average gas bill, ,” Dr Hendy said. 

Dr Hendy said the Carbon Tax was a $9billion a year hit to the economy, and scrapping it would take the burden off businesses and make it easier for them to employ people. 

“I’ve listened to many local residents concerned about how this unfair tax has imposed a real burden on their small businesses and their family,” Dr Hendy said. 

 “The government’s consumer watchdog, the ACCC, has been given extra funding and powers to ensure that savings are passed on to consumers.” 

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Labor senator Lisa Singh said with one vote the nation had moved backwards and "Australia will today be a laughing stock to the rest of the world".

Around the streets of Bega on Thursday afternoon, the main feeling of the general public was they didn’t know enough about the carbon tax to judge whether it was good idea to have been removed or not.

Some hoped the removal would benefit their families by saving them money, and some thought climate change was an issue that would impact upon the next generations and needed to be countered now. 

The Herald reported Opposition Leader Bill Shorten would take an energy trading scheme to the next election. 

"We know that 13 of the last 14 years have been the hottest on record,” he said. 

"We know that heat-trapping greenhouse gases are going to cause and are causing a problem for our environment, so we know that we need to be part of international best practice."