Sunday, August 31, 2008

Kevin Rudd to give carbon polluters a fair go

from The Weekend Australian, Saturday 30 August 2008.

The Government has been warned in recent weeks that its proposed formula for compensation would drive new investment offshore and could cause some operations to close.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson convened a meeting in Canberra yesterday with the chief executives of major businesses and industry lobby groups to discuss the design of the scheme, which will place a cap on Australia's greenhouse pollution from 2010, and establish a market in emission permits within that limit.

Department of Climate Change secretary Martin Parkinson told the closed-door meeting the Government would work with business on different ways of distributing the allocated pool of free emission permits among those trade-exposed industries that cannot pass on the cost of carbon to their customers*.

But he said the new proposed formula - likely to be based on a company's profit margins and wages costs rather than revenue - would have to be agreed across industries so it was not the source of endless disputes with the Government or the proposed new climate change regulator.
How on earth are they going to make this work without crippling Australia's economy, and screwing over all those "Working Families" they championed before they were elected?

The government is absolutely clueless, it makes so much more sense to err on the side of caution - and it's time for all the skeptics, particularly those who have power - politicians, businessmen and others - who can see that an ETS is a very, very bad idea, to speak out.

A hint as to what is in store is that the meeting was "closed door", and it appears that discussion will be stifled (sounds familiar with the Rudd Empirical System of Micro Management Government).

*Just who do the lay/green/sucked-in champions of AGW/CC "carbon pollution" think will be paying for an ETS? The buck stops with the minnows... "Working Families" et al.

Australia
Leading the world

In Stupid.

Thanks Wand.

3 comments:

Minicapt said...

A mentor? http://www.ndp.ca/jacklayton
... if only we could export him ...

Cheers
JMH

Skeeter said...

It's not just working families who are suffering. I have a friend who's very large business is bleeding. His company is not in energy and not a carbon emitter but, because of the economy downturn, all its parameters have been heading south for weeks.
He has already started the sackings and other cutbacks that will be necessary for survival.
A lot of damage has been done to Australia since 24 Nov 07, and there is much worse to come.

kae said...

Skeeter,
But Kevvie prwomised to look after the "working families"... not the employers, he wants to screw them over, too. He never prwomised to look after them.