Gillard: Carbon tax in 2012

12 February, 2011 by

Carbon tax in action

Climate Madness in its purest form. What we suspected all along has been proved right. Julia Gillard’s promise in August 2010 not to introduce a carbon tax “under the government I lead” was a barefaced lie. How many more has she told? Will we ever find out? She has cynically deceived the electorate on this crucial issue, and should suffer the consequences at the next election.

JULIA Gillard plans to introduce a carbon price from July 1 next year and defy the Greens by insisting on compensation for the coal and electricity industries, in a move that will infuriate its minority government partner.

The Weekend Australian understands the government will present its multi-party climate change committee next week with a plan for a fixed carbon price to operate from July 1, 2012, until about 2015-16 when the regime will move to an emissions trading scheme.

Labor is set to demand some “real-world compromise” from the Greens by insisting that compensation for energy-intensive industries such as electricity generation and trade-exposed industries remain close to that offered in the deal former prime minister Kevin Rudd hammered out with then opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull in late 2009.

The Prime Minister has set 2011 as a “year for decision” on a carbon price and is ambitiously pursuing a timetable under which legislation could be introduced into parliament before the end of this year. (source)

But there is no certainty that the Greens will roll over so easily, and I predict an almighty punch-up, as I mentioned a few days ago.

And what was the point of paying Flannery and his commission $5 million when the decision’s already been made? And what’s the point of a parliamentary committee to investigate climate change policy when the decision’s already been made? Who cares? Jobs for the boys. It’s only your taxpayer dollars that they’re wasting – and Labor governments don’t give an s-h-one-t about them (excuse my French). As we would expect, a total whitewash.

So in summary, assuming that the carbon tax is passed into law, let’s remind ourselves what it would achieve:

  • nothing whatsoever for climate
  • nothing whatsoever for global temperatures
  • nothing whatsoever for local temperatures
  • nothing whatsoever for the Arctic
  • nothing whatsoever for polar bears
  • nothing whatsoever for the drought or floods or clyclones
  • nothing whatsoever for the Great Barrier Reef
  • nothing whatsoever for Kakadu
  • nothing whatsoever for Tuvalu and all the other sinking islands
  • nothing whatsoever for the ringtail possum and other cuddly creatures
  • nothing whatsoever for bushfires and heatwaves
  • in fact, nothing whatsoever for anything even remotely related to the climate

On the other hand it will do the following:

  • everything to damage Australia’s economy
  • everything to damage Australia’s competitiveness
  • everything to increase the cost of living for ordinary Australians
  • everything to make the poorest in society worse off
  • everything to damage emissions intensive industries
  • everything to ensure that our industries move offshore
  • everything to create more unemployment
  • everything to raise electricity, gas and food prices
  • everything to assist a pointless global “deal”
  • everything to advance the cause of global government and global wealth distribution

Have I missed anything there? Leave a comment if I have.

(h/t Andrew Bolt)

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Gillard: addicted to tax and spend

21 January, 2011 by

Old fashioned socialist

We all appreciate that those who have suffered from the floods in Queensland and Victoria deserve financial help from the federal government to help them rebuild their lives and their homes. However, why is it that Julia Gillard’s immediate reaction is to consider a one-off “levy” (translation: tax) rather than the many alternatives? Tax ‘n’ spend is good old fashioned socialism, of course, which Julia with her crypto-communist past would be well aware of.

How about one of these instead:

  • postpone or abandon the pointless National Broadband Network, which will be out of date before it’s even completed. By the time our “state of the art” network is operational, having dug up every street in Australia to lay fibre cables, the rest of the world will have moved on to n-th generation wireless at a fraction of the cost;
  • postpone or abandon the pointless price on carbon, which will do nothing for the climate, nothing to “encouragize” China or India to cut their emissions, and will add massive costs to businesses trying to rebuild and huge increases for those struggling to pay their energy bills;
  • abandon the political posturing about returning the budget to surplus by the artificial deadline Labor itself has set. Vanity is the only thing preventing flexibility here;
  • stop wasting money on rubbish policies like cash-for-clunkers or the Pink Batts fiasco;
  • cut rafts of other wasteful government spending;
  • [readers are invited to fill in the blanks – Ed]

Of course, the federal government should contribute to this tragedy, but not via yet another slug on the poor Australian public.

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How to end uncertainty on carbon [dioxide] pricing

10 January, 2011 by

Through the shredder

Simple: abandon it.

The Australian agonises at length about “business certainty”:

IN 2007, as southern Australia ground through the hottest average temperatures on record, a national carbon price was high on the agenda.

Both John Howard and Kevin Rudd had committed themselves to an emissions trading scheme to combat global warming as they geared up for the November election, which Rudd, who was pushing the issue hardest, won.

But three years, a global financial crisis and a hung parliament later, any certainty about a carbon price, or its form, has quickly dried up.

In the electricity sector alone, the uncertainty has led to $10 billion, or 56 per cent, of power generation investment planned over the next five years being slashed. (source)

I think we all know the solution.

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Abbott: carbon tax is "economic self-harm"

18 September, 2010 by

No ETS or carbon (dioxide) tax

In this sea of climate madness which we are currently drowning, only Tony Abbott speaks the blindingly obvious truth: a carbon tax would be damaging to Australia’s economy for no benefit to the climate whatsoever. And the majority of business thinks the same (take note Moonbat Marius):

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is sticking to his guns that he will “never” endorse Australia going it alone by putting a price on carbon, a stance supported by a new business survey.

Mr Abbott said on Friday that he will “never” put a price on carbon unless this becomes part of an enforceable international system.

“A go-it-alone carbon tax would be another act of economic self harm and it’s the last thing Australia needs,” Mr Abbott told Macquarie radio.

“The price of your power, the price of your petrol, the price of everything you do goes up under a carbon tax.”

He also attacked the government for a change of heart having “emphatically ruled out a carbon tax pre-election”.

“Now, apparently they’re ruling it in. It just goes to show you can’t trust these guys,” he said.

A survey of 1000 business owners conducted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce of Industry (ACCI) found that 75 per cent oppose the unilateral adoption of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) or carbon tax.

“Calls for a carbon tax or ETS in the name of business certainty certainly don’t represent the general view of business owners,” the chamber’s director of economics and industry policy, Greg Evans, said in releasing the survey results on Friday.

“The reality is business and consumers (would) face the prospect of a doubling of energy prices by 2015 with little global gain.”

Read it here.

UPDATE: Julia Gillard’s excuse for the backflip on the carbon tax is that it’s no longer her decision what happens on climate change, because the “committee” will tell her. No, seriously.

She told Fairfax that what she said before the federal election on climate change no longer applies because a committee of politicians and experts will now develop the policy.

“We laboured long and hard to develop a market-based mechanism,” she said of the emissions trading scheme. [Waffle]

“But I’m recognising the political reality. I campaigned as Prime Minister in an election campaign with policies for the Government. [More waffle]

“We are in a new environment where in order for any action to happen in this Parliament, you need more consensus than the views and policies of the Government and this committee is the way of recognising that.” (source)

No it’s not. It’s a stacked team of warmists who have made up their minds already.

Those independents who handed this incompetent government power should hang their heads in shame.

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Gillard backflips on carbon tax

17 September, 2010 by

First of many?

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Hands up those of you who didn’t see this coming. Comments by BHP’s Moonbat Marius yesterday put the issue of a carbon tax back on the agenda. The Greens are cock-a-hoop, as they would be, and Julia Gillard failed spectacularly to rule out such a tax, despite doing so before the election. As Australian Conservative reports:

Julia Gillard today walked away from her election-eve promise to oppose a costly carbon tax on Australian householders.

On the Friday before the election Ms Gillard stated categorically: “I rule out a carbon tax.” (The Australian, 20 August 2010).

But today, when asked by media, would she rule out a carbon tax, she blinked:

Gillard: Look, we, we’ve said we would work through options in good faith at the committee that I have formed involving of course the Greens … We want to work through options, have the discussions at that committee in good faith.

Journalist: So you are not ruling it out then?

Gillard: Well look ah, you know I just think the rule-in, rule-out games are a little bit silly.

Before the election, she unambiguously ruled out a carbon tax. Now, after the election, ruling in or ruling out a carbon tax is now “a little bit silly” according to the PM.

It now looks like Julia Gillard is opening the door to a plan by Labor’s partners, the Greens, for a carbon tax.

Now, after the election, it appears that Labor has a secret plan to back-flip and support the tax.

Before the election, Wayne Swan said: “what we rejected is this hysterical allegation that somehow we are moving towards a carbon tax” (Meet the Press, 15 August 2010).

Mr Swan also said: “We have made our position very clear, we have ruled it out” (7.30 Report, 12 August 2010).

Julia Gillard again claimed: “There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead” (Channel 10, 16 August 2010).

The Prime Minister was today speaking at a sustainability media event. But it’s now clear she hasn’t been able to sustain her pre-election promises to rule out a carbon tax. (source)

This will be just the first of many backflips by Julia as she desperately tries to appease the demands of the Greens, ably assisted by a self-serving businessman who wants to spruik his uranium over coal. At least some businesses are rejecting the call:

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry said Mr Kloppers’s statements did not represent the views of its members.

“We unambiguously represent the views of energy users rather than producers,” ACCI economics and industry policy director Greg Evans said. “Our members are concerned about the impact of either of a carbon tax or an ETS.

“We certainly don’t believe Australia should pre-empt any international action.” (source)

A statement so blindingly obvious, it is astonishing that no-one seems to get it. We really are through the looking-glass now, folks.

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