Crack open the bubbly!

The carbon tax, that utterly pointless environmental gesture that would have done nothing for the climate, has been repealed today in the Senate. Good riddance.

The toxic tax, together with the originally planned emissions trading scheme, has claimed, over the years, about half a dozen senior politicians, including Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull, all of whom have shackled themselves to the altar of climate change alarmism, and paid the price.

The Australian reports:

THE carbon tax has been repealed, fulfilling Tony Abbott’s “pledge in blood” to abolish the landmark Gillard government scheme.

The Senate passed the government’s amended carbon tax repeal bills by a margin of 39 votes to 32 at 11.14am, with only the Labor Party and the Greens opposing their passage into law.

It was the Senate’s third attempt to pass the repeal legislation.

The vote was held as Bill Shorten gave a clear pledge to take a new carbon pricing mechanism to the next federal election, due in 2016, in the form of an emissions trading scheme.

They never learn, do they? Idiots. You can add Shorten to the above list of climate victims.

Australian profits…

Whilst Europe is paying about $4 a tonne (which is still $4 a tonne too much), Australian businesses are being slugged with $23 a tonne. Added to the raft of other anti-business legislation rolled out by Labor to keep the union vote sweet, this is finishing off businesses at a rate of one an hour:

THE carbon tax is contributing to a record number of firms going to the wall with thousands of employees being laid off and companies forced to close factories that have stood for generations.

Rising energy bills caused by the Government’s climate change scheme have been called the “straw that broke the camel’s back” by company executives and corporate rescue doctors who are trying to save ailing firms.

New data from the corporate regulator reveals insolvencies have hit a record high over the past 12 months, led by widespread failures in manufacturing and construction, which accounted for almost one-fifth of collapses.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission reports there were 10,632 company collapses for the 12 months to March 1 – averaging 886 a month – with the number of firms being placed in administration more than 12 per cent higher than during the global financial crisis.

While the high Australian dollar is seen as the main factor behind manufacturing closures, experts say the carbon tax is adding to increasing cost burdens for many firms struggling to stay afloat.

Peter Macks, principal of Adelaide-based insolvency firm Macks Advisory, said the carbon tax was “quite debilitating” for a number of hotel operators who he said had been “struggling for a long time”.

“It is very tough operating at a profit,” Mr Macks said.

Todd Gammel, a partner with HLB Mann Judd, likened the carbon tax to pulling a leg out from underneath a chair.

“For companies which have exposure to energy, and other factors which are affected by the carbon tax in a significant way, the carbon tax and the costs related to it are having a significant impact on the ability of these companies to continue,” Mr Gammel said. (Source)

And of course, if Conroy’s draconian media laws pass next week (because you only need a few days to consider thousands of lines of legislation, right? And there’s no room for negotiation…) you won’t be able to read any criticism of the government. In case you haven’t seen it, you must watch Piers Akerman on Insiders surrounded by lefty apologists for this muzzling of free speech.

Legal opinion

From The Australian:

A COALITION government elected next year could repeal the carbon tax without risking a multi-billion-dollar compensation bill, a prominent legal identity says.

The opposition has been dogged by claims it will be forced to pay billions for carbon units issued by the commonwealth if it honours its commitment to end the tax under the provisions of Section 51 of the constitution, which stipulates the government can only acquire property “on just terms”.

But Sydney barrister and former law academic Bryan Pape — whose 2009 challenge to the $900 million Rudd government stimulus payments led to the High Court demolishing the long-held assumption that the commonwealth can spend money in whatever area it wishes — says under the operations of the Clean Energy Act no acquisition of property issues would arise until 2015.

The opinion emerged as Julia Gillard confirmed the government was continuing to consult on the shape of the floor price in its carbon pricing legislation.

“We’ve been consulting on floor price arrangements as is well know,” the Prime Minister said.

“We will continue with that and when we’re in a position to say something about that, we will.”

In an opinion provided to the Institute of Public Affairs think-tank and obtained by The Australian, Mr Pape cites Section 100.7 of the act and says: “Up to June 30, 2015, any carbon units which were issued to persons by the regulator are taken to have been surrendered immediately after the issue of the unit.

“In short, there would be no property capable of being acquired.”

Given the situation, Mr Pape writes: “In my opinion there would be no consequences with respect to Section 51.”

Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt welcomed Mr Pape’s opinion.

“It fits with exactly what we always knew to be the case,” he said.

“There never has been and never will be a basis for compensation because nobody loses anything.

“The point about carbon units issued to companies now is that they are only ever issued for part payment of a carbon tax bill.

“Every single company that gets some compensation still has a bigger bill to pay.”

Mr Hunt repeated the Coalition’s determination to repeal the tax.

“Unlike the government we’ve said what we’ll do — and we’ll do it,” he said.

“The next election will be a referendum on the carbon tax.

“We can repeal it, we will repeal it and we’ll do it quickly and easily.” (source)

The Australian economy…

Australia’s “world leading” carbon price of AU$23 per tonne is now nearly seven times the price of UN-backed carbon credits, which yesterday fell to a new low:

Prices for UN-backed carbon credits sank to a record low in morning trading on Wednesday after doubts emerged about European Commission plans to prop up the bloc’s ailing emissions trading market.

Benchmark prices for certified emission reduction credits fell as much as 12.9 per cent from the previous day to a record low of €2.86 in early trading – a decline of 31 per cent from the start of July.

Allowances traded in the European Union’s emissions trading system, which the CER credits normally track, fell to a low of €6.80, down 11.5 per cent on the day and their lowest point since mid-June, before recovering to €7.18 later in the day.

Carbon prices have fallen to fresh lows at several points over the past nine months as a glut in the supply of EU credits has been exacerbated by sagging demand due to weak European economic conditions.

Some analysts believe carbon credits need to cost as much as €50 to drive the low-carbon investment that is a central plank of UN policy, so some EU countries, including Denmark and the UK, have been pushing for a plan to bolster the market. Others, such as Poland, which generates about 90 per cent of its electricity from carbon-intensive coal plants, have strongly opposed such moves. (source)

That’s the spirit, Julia – sacrifice the Australian economy on the UN’s environmental altar, right?

Tragic

This would be funny if it weren’t so tragic:

Pokies [that’s ocker Aussie slang for gaming machines – Ed] have swallowed a chunk of the federal government’s carbon tax compensation, new figures suggest.

Revealed today by The Australian Financial Review, the figures show handouts to low-income earners under the scheme have led to surges in gaming revenues from pubs and clubs in Queensland and Victoria.

They show that there was a 7 per cent rise in poker machine revenues in Queensland in May when the government’s first clean energy payment was made to eligible people.

And the following month poker machine revenue rose by almost 12 per cent in the state on a year-by-year basis. (source)

Just another unintended consequence of old fashioned socialist interventionism.