Slush fund
Tony Abbott has picked up the point made here yesterday, that the ETS will simply redistribute wealth with no benefit to the climate:
Speaking after the Government said Treasury modelling showed low-income households would get an average of $610 in cash compensation but would only experience price rises of $420, Mr Abbott questioned the purpose of the scheme.
”When the Government starts talking about 120 per cent compensation for some people, it gives rise to the understandable suspicion that the ETS is not about the environment, it’s really about a political slush fund.”
Mr Abbott called on the Government to release the modelling behind its claims. A Government spokesman said the analysis was based on October 2008 Treasury modelling and updated to reflect the lower carbon price forecast in November’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
While it released some detail on the impact on low-income households, the Government has held back on similar information for wealthier households.
Not in the least bit surprised. Taxing the rich is traditional Labor policy.
Read it here.
Australian Climate Madness 
The “over compensation” of low income people is an obvious attempt at vote buying by Labor, however what also bothers me is the use of an average dollar amount to compensate in a country with huge variation in energy use for heaing and/or cooling. Those low income people living in say Darwin, or Canberra may in fact be getting under compensated, whilst those in temperate regions who rarely need to heat or cool may be getting over compensated by considerably more than the 20% claimed.
It is a complete and utter dog’s breakfast, made more farcical by the fact we are pushing on with an ETS when Copenhagen was such a flop. Rudd yearns to lead the world in something, climate madness could just be it.
WUWT 30/12/09
“JMANON (12:11:34) : …But damn, that’s gonna cause a hell of an increase in taxes.
[T]o be honest, I suspect that about the one and only thing definitively caused by anthropogenic CO2 is taxation.”
Truer words have never been spoken!
A politician who calls it correctly–amazing. Happy New Years.
@cbullitt: And to you!