Abbott: ETS is old fashioned socialism

The ETS at work

Redistributing wealth from “the rich” to “the poor” is what socialism is all about, and oddly, that’s exactly what the ETS would do. Nothing for the climate, of course – don’t forget that. And Tony Abbott is quick to point this out:

The new leader will sharpen his attack on the CPRS, moving beyond attacking it as “a great big tax” to accusing Labor of using it as a wealth-transfer mechanism.

Homing in on Mr Rudd’s assurances that he will compensate low-income earners to the value of 120 per cent of the impact of the CPRS on their living costs, Mr Abbott will say: “This is a redistribution policy dressed up as a climate change policy. The Liberal Party, by contrast, doesn’t like new taxes, doesn’t like politicised handouts and doesn’t like new bureaucracies.”

After winning the Liberal Party leadership by a single vote to end weeks of opposition infighting earlier this month, Mr Abbott turned the party’s policy on its head by reversing Mr Turnbull’s previous support for Labor’s CPRS.

Mr Turnbull had previously insisted that Mr Rudd wanted the opposition to reject his legislation so he could call a double dissolution of parliament and an early election.

But Mr Abbott will tell the NSW’s Liberal Party’s Millennium Forum that he would relish any election on emissions trading because the campaign would be about tax, not the environment.

“Mr Rudd’s policy will be to save the environment by raising the cost of living,” the speech says.

“Oppositions should live for elections because they are the only way to become a government. So I have a clear message for Mr Rudd and the early election that he has threatened us with: ‘Bring it on and we will be ready for you’.”

Read it here.