Forget for a moment the $23 a tonne carbon price, the really shocking figure in the Government’s new climate policy is its “ambitious” (read: suicidal) target of reducing emissions by 80% on 2000 levels by 2050. This is a figure which has “added to appease Green extremists” written all over it.
But at least the government have set this insane target well into the future, with no hope of it ever being legislated or achieved.
The rest of it is moving money around for no reason whatsoever (your money, that is).
You can download the climate policy here (PDF).
UPDATE: Just to put all this nonsense in perspective, the policy is due to reduce Australia’s emissions by 160 million tonnes of CO2 by 2020. Sounds impressive right? Well, China’s emissions rose in just one year by 750 million tonnes, nearly five times Australia’s planned reduction by 2020 – in just one year. Climate Madness.
P.S. No mention of how much of the revenue will by siphoned off to the UN either…
Australian Climate Madness 
The carbon dioxide tax announcement is only an interim measure designed to try and get the Australian electorate on side by claims of compensation. When has a tax ever been implemented that doesn’t cost the ordinary taxpayer? Which leads to another question … do you really trust these buffoons to manage your carbon dioxide tax dollar after they stuffed up the pink bats or Building Education Revolution schemes?
Well, there does seem to be a lot self congratulatory red and green back-patting going on in Canberra, judging by the articles I’ve read. Thankfully for the safety of my television, and my sanity, I am not in the country to feel the “vibe”, but there is still a disturbing amount of “I’ll be better off, thats good” and “yeah, teach those big industries a lesson” comments around. I cant say the media here in europe has given it airtime at all…what a surprise!
Oh, and Baldrick; No, I don’t trust the Government to get it right, they have a poor record in that area, and thats just 1 of many reasons why I dislike this tax scheme…
As an example of pointless carbon dioxide emission reduction, the Gorgon LNG project in WA will, when it is up and running, produce about 15 million tonnes of LNG annually (mostly for export), and their CO2 sequestration programme will capture and store an estimated 3.4 to 4 million tonnes of CO2 a year. Doesn’t seem worth it to me…say 24 million tonnes (approx) of CO2 from (efficiently) burning the LNG alone, then you’re looking at 16.6% CO2 capture, add in the processing, and extraction CO2, and that % would be lower, and its “the biggest CO2 project in the world”…
Simon – there’s an interesting thing about the ‘80% reduction in emissions by 2050’.
The actual real reduction is 2%. Yes, two whole percent! See the graph on p7 of the Treasury report.
Then Treasury assumes we buy indulgences from overseas for the other 78%.
These it turns out are mythical creatures – Treasury does not say where we can buy them from, what they are or anything else at all about them, except that they come from ‘overseas’. See p83 of the report.
I suspect they had to pull this trick because the alternative of actually cutting emissions to 80% below 2000 levels would be so horrific that it would be headline news. As it is Ms Gillard seems to have gotten away without it making news anywhere.
The Carbon Tax is just a big con using emotional crap to scare people into accepting it. It will have no effect on climate whatsoever. Do something positive like we did years ago with car exhaust emission inhibitors. I can’t accept a gutless leader who is dictated to by the Greens just to save her job. She is a liar and can never be trusted after her diabolical stuff ups with the “pink bats”, the wast on building school halls that are not functional or required, the mining tax, cash for clunkers and the list goes on.
Let the people have their say and have a double dissolution election right now!