The Australian economy…
On Sunday 1 July 2012, the Labor/Green government’s carbon tax of $23 per tonne will finally take effect in Australia.
We’ve heard all the usual spin from Greg Combet about how other countries are taking similar action and Australia must “catch up”. It’s all bullshit as anyone with half a brain could work out. Unfortunately, Combet and Gillard and their Green mates don’t have half a brain between them, so they can’t work it out. In any case, it’s all Green blackmail anyway, to keep Gillard in power.
Coming at a time when:
- the European economy could collapse at any moment thanks to any number of bankrupt states teetering on the brink of default,
- economic confidence in the US is low, and
- our own resources-run economy is feeling the pinch from decreased demand from China (even ignoring the punishing mining tax),
to legislate what is essentially the world’s highest carbon tax, when European carbon prices have been falling like a stone, and now stand around $10, is pure climate madness – and what originally gave this blog its name back in 2008.
And of course, it will do NOTHING for the climate. Our emissions will actually rise. And China and India’s emissions will rise several orders of magnitude more than any notional reduction here in Australia for decades to come.
Gillard believes that when the tax comes into effect, people won’t notice and she can crow “See, it wasn’t so bad after all!” Some hope. Electricity prices are already set to rise 18 – 20% next year and the additional costs of paying the tax will inevitably be passed on to consumers (or suppliers, who will eventually pass it on to consumers anyway). Prices of virtually everything will rise despite the almost childishly simplistic refrain of “it’s only the top 500 polluters who pay”. Yes, and who pays them?
The cost of living here in Australia is going through the roof and the economy is already stagnant. Uncertainty about a second GFC is forcing Australian families all over the country to tighten their belts, slash discretionary spending and sit tight in their bunkers until the next election, which they hope will deliver a majority government capable of action.
Thanks to the carbon tax, the next 15 months will be even worse than that. I foresee the economy shrinking, retailers going under, businesses failing and unemployment rising. The housing market will shrink and families will be stuck in the negative equity trap. There can be no other outcome.
The so-called “green economy” is a myth. It survives on a life support system of generous government handouts. Withdraw the feeding tube and death rapidly follows. Only when such alternative energies become genuinely competitive will they be able to survive without government crutches. It is not the panacea that will see us through this crisis.
We can only hope that something forces an early election and this pointless and damaging tax can be removed as soon as possible thereafter. Otherwise, we’re stuck with it until at least the second half of 2013, by which time, the Australian economy may be too broken to be saved – and it may take generations of hard times foisted upon our, quote, “children and grandchildren” to restore it.
Australian Climate Madness 
the threat of the tax is, and has been, already affecting the economy while companies “position themselves” for the start of the tax. from your article “it’s only the top 500 polluters who pay” that list os down to about 290…with snowy hydro in the list and hydro tasmania not…something smells rotten to me…
That does smell like a can of worms. Who did Julia bribe in Tasmania – Wilkie of course as she has done with Oakeshott and Windsor providing sports facilities, etc. and making them think they are so important even more puffed up.than they were.. We have never had such a dishonest ,bribing and dictator of a PM in the history of Australia. Of course this tax will affect the economy. Julia is so ignorant she can’t see it or does not want to. Costs will have to be passed on otherwise business after business will close down. Compensation will ntot go far and as for saying people will be over-compensated, she is living in cookoo land. All she can think of is keeping the keys of the lodge and she will do and say anything to achieve power.
makes no difference as far as I can see as the cost of electricity in Tasmania is about to go up steeply too…..
Its first of July and the world has not end also those fear mongers must have been wrong about the carbon tax. I received a notice from my power generator last week that my charges are going up by about 6 percent which does not really affect me to much. So much for the propaganda from the church going liberals about 25 percent increases in charges etc. I know one thing that if the religious right backed liberals get in power they stated they want cut pensions and spending cuts ever were else so the rich can have tax cuts will hurt people a lot more than any increase in power cuts.
It is not a matter of whether we will notice (and we will) it is a matter of whether there is any useful purpose served by this burden.
I am sure that if I asked people to just give me $5 a day out of their pockets most people could afford it and the world would not end etc. I doubt that most people would see that as a sufficiently good reason to pay me the $5 though.
Have you been peering into my mind? I couldn’t have articulated the truth of the matter better myself.
There won’t be an early election. That would require character, integrity and decency from someone in the ALP-Greens-Independents government, qualities that are virtually non-existent.
I’m sick of all the Labor bullshit. This is the first Labor government I have ever known that rates lower than the lowest… lower than the the crap found at the bottom of an outdoor pit-dunny!
Having themselves fallen for the AGW hoax hook line and sinker,this stupid government sees no reason why the average Aussie won”t be stupid enough to swollow the tax “for the sake of our children”. Me thinks they are dead wrong. Most people I know think that the”re crazy and are simply waiting to end this nightmare at the next election.
Not at all sure that Juliar (and this term can now fairly be held to have entered into the language of common currency: just look at the readers’ comments in the Courier-Mail) really believes the global warming bullshit. I expect she had her doubts when she (in)famously promised “no carbon tax” before the last election.
What I am sure of is that Juliar’s level of cynicism and naked lust for power is way off any scale of measurement that human ingenuity could devise: faced with a demand by the ecoloons that she enact a carbon tax in return for their support in forming a government, she abruptly reversed direction. (Her devastating lack of principles was amusingly highlighted a few months ago when the Four Corners interviewer asked her if she had advance knowledge of the move against Rudd.)
Now Australia will have a new army of administrators calculating, levying and collecting the carbon tax while another army calculates and disburses the refunds – reminiscent of the old scheme to maintain full employment by paying one army to dig holes in the ground and another army to fill them in again – not exactly the route to a flourishing and productive economy.
P.S. What the [expletive deleted] does a “climate minister” do anyway?
Juliar does not believe all the carbon dioxide nonsense but as a means of raising much needed revenue the labor mob had no choice – they have no money left and cannot borrow too much more.
It’s just a great big tax.
What upsets me the most is the media trotting out the usual “carbon pollution” tripe and how this ‘carbon’ tax will not put anyone out of pocket because those on welfare will receive some money, and taxpayers’ tax threshold will increase to $18,000 so everything will be just fine.
The media is aiding and abetting this huge lie and I have a feeling some people are falling for it.
Strategically, this is a dumb move by the labor party unless Juliar intends to call an election for later this year or early next year, maybe sometime in March 2013.
In any case, in a few years time, when people are poorer, businesses have closed down and investment has left our shore, we will be the laughing stock of the world.
Gillard and her lackeys are doing this deliberately – I believe their aim is to destroy the middle class.
Historically, democracy has flowed from a strong middle class – hence, destroy the middle class and you destroy democracy.
Their aim is a Socialist state (like Stalin, Hitler, Mao Zedong etc) with a ruling elite (them) and a large impoverished population in servitude.
Gillard, Combet, Brown etc are not idiots – this is the deliberate destruction of this country. They are currently wanting to implement controls over the media and the elimination of free speech in this country.
Obama is doing the same to the USA.
I agree, Gillard and her minions are far from stupid, that’s part (admittedly small) of the reason this whole thing is so frustrating. Intelligent, well educated people with what seems like very poorly disguised hatred for the country they are (hopefully) only temporarily in charge of. I wonder how such a mentality is developed?
Remember the $200 million bailout for Holden / GM.
At the time it was announced I said that it was a subsidy to bring in the Chevy “Volt”. Lo & behold, today, the first advertisement for the Holden “Volt”
The “Volt”is a total flop in the USA and GM keep producing it because they are subsidised by the Obama Marxist administration.
The Holden Volt will subsidised here by the Labor Marxist regime, So remember when & if you are convinced to buy one you should get extra large discounts because you have already part paid for the “VOLT”.
I, for one, will never again purchase a Holden product. I will not be lied to by Gillard, Holden or anyone else. That goes for the coalition as well.
All who read this please pass it on the less informed.
Tony – correctly and eloquently put.
people seemed to have misse done thing though – this horrid tax serves two purposes :
(1) Slowly destroying the middle class – my mother in law *finally* agreed with me the other day that Ms Gullurd is a commie in all but clothing, lttle red book & “up the workers” posters.
(2) The Carbon tax is GST phase 2./ Most of the world ( inlcuding the failing eurozone ) has had its backside taxed off with a VAT/GST of 20%. When you add up the fact the Carbon Tax will increase every year and has no ceiling, we will in effect have a GST opf 20% to bring us into line with the rest of the economically failing planet .
What lobor have done, is administered a death of a 1000 cuts to the middle class, while the big govt supporting ass kissing companies continue to crap on us from a great height.
I recommend we all sign up en-masse and get solar power on our roofs and solar water – no power bills and no gas bills.
That should hurt them big time.
If Julia Gillard is really serious about climate change, she would pay less developed countries such as Brazil/Ecuador/Peru in South America and central African countries to save there existing rain-forests.
I do not see any point in charging big companies 30% Carbon Tax here in Australia ,then saying we will invest in cleaner energy for the future, all while energy companies will pass on the increase costs to everyday Australians.
The first step the world needs to take is too invest money in Amazon based countries and central African countries by Educating in cleaner and less damaging ways in farming. I also believe in the creation of work opportunities for the people of this region as they need options.
Instead of our government giving hand outs to families here, why not invest that money to save the worlds fast disappearing forest’s instead?. The rain forests of our world are more valuable standing for our climate and for our children’s future.
All I see and hear is our arrogant government applying a Tax on Tax policy with no serious plan that will save our planet in the future!.
As western countries of world that only represent 10% of the population, we however demand 90% of its resources!
I heard an Amazon beef farmer say something quite interesting on a documentary about deforestation… ” We cut the forests for our cattle to graze on so we can export our beef to America!’ he also said…’ Countries like Australia/America and Europe have cut most of there forest down, so who are they tell us we can’t cut ours!? ummmm that’s my point! we need to pay these countries NOT cut there trees down! It’s the only way.
My belief is we will be going to an Election sometime around November.
There will be the distraction of the US Election, the Carbon Dioxiode Tax wont be biting too hard by then and the Labor Party will have a fair idea of how bad things are going to be late in 2013. We are already seeing Politicians out “selling the message” with urging from “The Elite” of their Party.
Kneel.
Australia you have a chance to deal a death blow to ALP the Greens and that smut faced liar Gillard in 2013 – Please.
I also predict her other socialist hammer man friend Obama will go down in flames this fall.
Let the games begin!
I can understand The Greens treating the Australian public with contempt, but the once mighty Australian Labor Party, which stood for Australian workers and battlers, will pay a very heavy price at the next election for selling the Australian public a dud, with a lie.
Well may we say God save the Queen, because nothing will save the ALP from electoral wipeout!
Arent you glad we have a quuen….republic…*shudder*
Julia Gillard-Milne, have a nice day, buddy!
Sir…Doesn’t anyone there recognize that added CO2 in the atmosphere
is enhancing plant growth. (Some 10 to 70 percent, depending)
And we animals then benefit..! With lots of Uranium , lots of water to
desalt with that U, and lots of ‘vacant’ land, you will be feeding a large
portion of the other 6,980,000,000 people on this planet.
Vern Cornell. San Diego
Let’s hope for the sake of this nation that the polls are right and that lying disgusting Gillard, moronic Wayne Swan and the completety idiotic Greens are wiped from the Australian Parliament in 2013.
I hope all the fools who voted for ‘change’ and put Labour and the Greens into power are all happily digging into their pockets to pay the Carbon Tax, higher health care costs, higher education costs, massive costs for boat load after boat load of illegals etc, etc, etc.
Even a troup of trained monkey’s couldn’t be any worse than Labour, the Greens and of course the spineless independents!
It will be a bloodbath at the next election and this tax is the dumbest political play ever !
Whilst the tax will not impact immediately, it will most likely start to impact the unemployment and growth figures in the first half of next year. By the time we get to the next election we will be in ALP wipeout territory. Of course, the ALP could try and call an early election before the tax bites hard, but given the current poor polls it’s not likely, and an early election will be seen in a very synical light by an increasingly climate savvy electorate .
The only issue will be how difficult it will be to fix the mess afterwards. All this carbon legislation is akin to throwing a molatov cocktail into the house before you get evicted. It could take decades to restore the net debt position. Perhaps we have already reached a different type of tipping point ?
And still we do not know what criteria define the Government’s intended climate, or how we should distinguish that climate from the evolving climate we have.
Surely the climate interventionists imposing a prescriptive program on the economy should be obliged to spell out these distinctions clearly?
Remember the $200 million bailout for Holden / GM.
At the time it was announced I said that it was a subsidy to bring in the Chevy “Volt”. Lo & behold, today, the first advertisement for the Holden “Volt”
The “Volt”is a total flop in the USA and GM keep producing it because they are subsidised by the Obama Marxist administration.
The Holden Volt will subsidised here by the Labor Marxist regime, So remember when & if you are convinced to buy one you should get extra large discounts because you have already part paid for the “VOLT”.
I, for one, will never again purchase a Holden product. I will not be lied to by Gillard, Holden or anyone else. That goes for the coalition as well.
All who read this please pass it on the less informed.
I am just on the sidelines here (UK) but it seems to me that with the new tax everyone wins.
Most Australians get a big handout to protect them, the UN gets many millions to support ‘Global Govenance’, there will be ever more loaves and fishes created by Julia, the true messiah, and the whole world will quickly follow your wonderful example.
Business will rush to invest in Australia to be part of this thing and the commonwealth will thrive.
Will it be Saint Julia, saviour of the planet?
Thank you Australia !!! (the fairies at the bottom of my garden asked me to say that).
Seriously – When I think of the rubbish government we have I think of Australia and give thanks that our lot are not quite as bad.
Good Luck, from a retired Chartered Environmentalist
Well its straight forward – yes the govt ( and the “opposition” ) are all one-worlders who salivate over a serfdom based on oppressive taxes.
If you watch what happens, you will notice there is no change to policy once a change of govt occurs. The logical answer is they have different “wrappers” but underneath sing from the same socialist song book.