Gillard flounders on ETS cost question

Fish wife

Asked multiple times on Lateline how much it would cost, Julia Gillard couldn’t give an answer… because the government doesn’t have the foggiest idea:

Ms Gillard said the government had made it clear there would be costs associated with the carbon pollution reduction scheme, adding that there would also be compensation.

But when asked on Thursday night what costs, or what range of costs, Australians may face, Ms Gillard appeared unable to nail down any figures.

‘Well, this is all dealt with clearly in our papers for the carbon pollution reduction scheme,‘ she told ABC Television.

‘We’ve modelled the costs for low-income families, for middle-income families and we’ve provided compensation.’

When pressed on how much of a cost low-income families would face, Ms Gillard was again unable to give a figure.

‘The compensation we’ve modelled, we’ve modelled at 120 per cent of what we predict the costs to be,’ she responded.

Ms Gillard said there was not one number because it would depend on factors such as household type and the number of people in a house, but she was also unable to nominate a range.

‘Well, look, we’ve said to people that there is a range of costs.

‘The figures are obviously in our carbon pollution reduction scheme documentation.’ (source)

If they are in the documentation, why don’t you know them?

Who cares anyway, the ETS is dead.

Read it here.