Hidden carbon price: We already pay $170 a tonne

Every since Gillard's unsurprising statement a week ago that there will be a carbon price set by the end of next financial year (in preparation for an ETS in a few years) there has been Federal mayhem. Death-threats, comparisons of Gillard to Gaddafi, and shrieks of outrage as Tony Abbott marshals his "People's Revolt" via angry, right-wing shock-jockery and his Liberal troops hyperbolate the morning's talking point all over the MSM.

From all this noise, one fact stands out at me. It's why the Coalition's 'government-picked-winner' approach must be never be put into practice:

Australians are paying a hidden carbon price of about $170 a tonne through a range of inefficient renewable energy programs. Wouldn't it be more sensible for the community to pay an explicit one that creates the conditions to lower greenhouse gas emissions through a market-based scheme?

Set a carbon price to prepare the economy for an ETS that will let the market do all the hard work of pricing. Why is it that Labor/Greens are pushing a market approach to reduce emissions, while the Liberals are still planning to smuggle in their command-controlled model should they stymie the Government's plans? To quote Barnaby Joyce this week:

"Every day just gets weirder and weirder,"

It sure does.

Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Don't let evil flourish...

Calling all good men and women of Australia.

Malcolm Tunbull and the human chainsaw, Macfarlane, finally have negotiated their CPRS amendments with Penny Wong et al. Finally. The Liberal party has reconvened after dinner break to vote on supporting the bill. It looks like the doers might just trump the deniers and vote to push the bill though to the Senate for the vote to turn the bill into law.

Now is the time to come to the aid of your party, and let them know where you stand. Contact your Senator, below. That is all it takes:

Senator Abetz senator.abetz@aph.gov.au

Senator Adams senator.adams@aph.gov.au,

Senator Arbib senator.arbib@aph.gov.au,

Senator Back senator.back@aph.gov.au,

Senator Barnett senator.barnett@aph.gov.au,

Senator Bernardi senator.bernardi@aph.gov.au,

Senator Bilyk senator.bilyk@aph.gov.au,

Senator Birmingham senator.birmingham@aph.gov.au,

Senator Bishop senator.bishop@aph.gov.au,

Senator Boswell senator.boswell@aph.gov.au,

Senator Boyce senator.sue.boyce@aph.gov.au,

Senator Brandis senator.brandis@aph.gov.au,

Senator Brown senator.carol.brown@aph.gov.au,

Senator Bushby senator.bushby@aph.gov.au,

Senator Cameron senator.cameron@aph.gov.au,

Senator Carr senator.carr@aph.gov.au,

Senator Cash senator.cash@aph.gov.au,

Senator Colbeck senator.colbeck@aph.gov.au,

Senator Collins senator.collins@aph.gov.au,

Senator Conroy senator.conroy@aph.gov.au,

Senator Coonan senator.coonan@aph.gov.au,

Senator Cormann senator.cormann@aph.gov.au,

Senator Crossin senator.crossin@aph.gov.au,

Senator Eggleston senator.eggleston@aph.gov.au,

Senator Evans senator.evans@aph.gov.au,

Senator Farrell senator.farrell@aph.gov.au,

Senator Faulkner senator.faulkner@aph.gov.au,

Senator Feeney senator.feeney@aph.gov.au,

Senator Furguson senator.ferguson@aph.gov.au,

Senator Fielding senator.fielding@aph.gov.au,

Senator Fierravanti senator.fierravanti-wells@aph.gov.au,

Senator Fifield senator.fifield@aph.gov.au,

Senator Fisher senator.fisher@aph.gov.au,

Senator Forshaw senator.forshaw@aph.gov.au,

Senator Furner senator.furner@aph.gov.au,

SenatorHanson-Young senator.hanson-young@aph.gov.au,

Senator Heffernan senator.heffernan@aph.gov.au,

Senator Hogg senator.hogg@aph.gov.au,

Senator Humphries senator.humphries@aph.gov.au,

Senator Hurley senator.hurley@aph.gov.au,

Senator Hutchins senator.hutchins@aph.gov.au,

SenatorJohnson senator.johnston@aph.gov.au,

Senator Joyce senator.joyce@aph.gov.au,

Senator Kroger senator.kroger@aph.gov.au,

Senator Ludlam senator.ludlam@aph.gov.au,

Senator Ludwig senator.ludwig@aph.gov.au,

Senator Lundy senator.lundy@aph.gov.au,

Senator McDonald senator.ian.macdonald@aph.gov.au,

SenatorMcEwan senator.mcewen@aph.gov.au,

Senator McGauran senator.mcgauran@aph.gov.au,

Senator McLucas senator.mclucas@aph.gov.au,

Senator Marshall senator.marshall@aph.gov.au,

Senator Mason senator.mason@aph.gov.au,

Senator Milne senator.milne@aph.gov.au,

Senator Minchin senator.minchin@aph.gov.au,

Senator Moore senator.moore@aph.gov.au,

Senator Nash senator.nash@aph.gov.au,

Senator O’Brien senator.obrien@aph.gov.au,

Senator Parry senator.parry@aph.gov.au,

Senator Payne senator.payne@aph.gov.au,

Senator Polley senator.polley@aph.gov.au,

Senator Pratt senator.pratt@aph.gov.au,

Senator Ronaldson senator.ronaldson@aph.gov.au,

Senator Ryan senator.ryan@aph.gov.au,

Senator Scullion senator.scullion@aph.gov.au,

Senator Sherry senator.sherry@aph.gov.au

Senator Siewert senator.siewert@aph.gov.au,

Senator Stephens senator.stephens@aph.gov.au,

Senator Sterle senator.sterle@aph.gov.au,

Senator Troeth senator.troeth@aph.gov.au,

Senator Trood senator.trood@aph.gov.au,

Senator Williams senator.williams@aph.gov.au,

Senator Wong senator.wong@aph.gov.au,

Senator Wortley senator.wortley@aph.gov.au,

Senator Xenophon senator.xenophon@aph.gov.au,

Don't hold back, now. Consider your kids' and grandkids' quality of lives

Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Australia's climate bill may be scuttled

The ETS circus plays on:

Australian Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne said the Government would also have no alternative but to reverse its plan to link passage of the emissions bill to renewable energy measures.

"The [emissions trading] bill will be defeated. There is no question about that," she told ABC Television.

"The Government hasn't been able to reach a compromise with the Coalition and in terms of the Greens, the Government has not come back with more ambitious targets on the table.

"We are determined that Australia plays its fair share internationally."

Senator Milne said the UN meeting in Bonn was now declaring that the main roadblock to a global agreement at the Copenhagen climate change conference later this year was the lack of ambition from developed countries.

She said emissions reductions targets between 16-24 per cent were on the table and that was nowhere near the 25-45 per cent needed for developed countries.

Senator Milne said the Government had added a complication by tying renewable energy target legislation to passage of the emissions reduction scheme.

"The Government is going to have to back down on that because so many businesses around the country are desperate to get going with expanding renewable energy."

As we know, Family First's Stephen Fielding has been blinded by staring at the sun for too long when hanging out with fellow gullibles at the Heartland Institute of Kitchen Science and Propaganda. He's no bloody use to Labor (but at least he is more honest and open in his denial than the damned Liberals), so if Big Kev wants to get his second-best emissions scheme though, he's gonna have to bite the bullet and turn it into the first best plan.

Hey Kevin, as still per the last election, Aussies want to be world leaders in the new carbon economy, starting today; if you won't give us that chance, we'll find a leader who will.

Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Government ETS delay: A back-flip to the future

I don't know what to think about the Australian Government's 2011 back-flip on the starting date of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

The economy is going sideways. This means fewer carbon emissions caused by lower productivity. A delayed introduction will help businesses by delaying compliance costs, but it is only a delay. And, we miss the chance to go to Copenhagen and negotiate with more leverage. I do think this is a big-picture mistake because Australia's (or any country's) best shot at mitigation is as part of a global effort.

In what's becoming a knack of this government, it's a back-flip with a twist. In the following case, for the greater good:

The government has delayed its emissions trading scheme (ETS) a year to July 2011, citing the global economic crisis.

But Labor has also pushed up its emissions reduction target to 25 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020 - up from a maximum of 15 per cent - depending on the strength of an international agreement. The bottom end of the target range is still five per cent.

They sneaked that in without much protest. Wong and Co also neutralised one of the criticisms of the pollution reduction scheme — that carbon emissions savings by conscientious households would allow business more ceiling to pollute in. Well, Rudd's mob seem to have thought about that.

Concerned householders will be able to calculate their carbon output and buy permits to pollute, effectively taking these permits out of circulation.

Because the scheme will have a set number of permits for trading, permits bought in this way will not be available to polluting industries, thus reducing the amount of pollution able to be pumped into the atmosphere.

These permits will be bought by a new Australian Carbon Trust – Energy Efficiency Savings Pledge Fund, which will pool donations to buy the permits.

Seems like they have been consultative, which is a good sign. If I could say anything to them, my echo in the blogiverse would be to take heart from the British Colombian government's recent victory.

The only government in North America to implement a carbon tax to fight climate change has been re-elected handily in British Columbia.

And to take heed.

Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Rudd: Mother of All Summits to futureproof Australia

He loves his summits, dun 'e? Global warming has to be at the top, one would have thought. Watch this space.

clipped from news.smh.com.au Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says a summit involving 1,000 Australians will be held to tackle 10 major problems that are facing Australia. The summit will be held at Parliament House in late April and is called Australia 2020. "The summit will bring together some of the best and brightest brains from across the country to tackle the long-term challenges confronting Australia's future," Mr Rudd said.

Rudd government more different by the day

The real 'me-too' nature of the one-month old Australian Federal Labor is becoming more apparent with each passing day.


Day One. Kevin Rudd made good his election promise by triggering the instrument that sets in process the Australian Government ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, as his first act of government. It was signed hours after the new Labor cabinet was sworn in by the Governor-General, Sir Michael Jeffrey.

Although climate change policy was a clear point of difference for Labor, Rudd's immediate ratification of Kyoto yielded maximum symbolic impact. For the Australian electorate the surprise was not the signing, but the timing. Kev was telling us, "Ok, I'm onto it".

For the outside world, Rudd's first act of a few hours old government clearly signalled a dramatic departure from Howard's active, overt and covert opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. The significance was not lost on China Daily...

CANBERRA - Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, took the oath of office on Monday and immediately signed documents to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, ending his country's long-held opposition to the global climate agreement.

...not the Beeb...

Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as prime minister, following a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last week. Immediately after the ceremony, he signed documents to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, reversing the previous administration's policy. "This is the first official act of the new Australian government," he said.

...neither on the NYTimes...

CANBERRA, Australia — Kevin Rudd, the new prime minister of Australia, said on Monday that he had signed the paperwork to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, making good on an election promise that overturns a decade of opposition to the international global warming pact.

...and nor the rest of the world...

And the UN Climate Conference delegates assembling in Bali now loved it, giving Australia a rousing applause that would make an AA convention blush.

Everyone noted the significance... "Australia's new stance on Kyoto will isolate the US as the only developed nation not to have ratified the treaty." read the BBC.

Another dramatic departure from the Liberal's core policy of slavishly following Washington everywhere.


Day Ten. Australia, PNG to 'restore' relationship

Instead of acting the regional bully, the Rudd government has signalled our intentions to move past blunderbuss and fishnet stockings diplomacy.

Australia and Papua New Guinea will work on restoring their relationship after a frosty period under the previous Howard government. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his PNG counterpart Michael Somare agreed to restore contact after a bilateral meeting in Bali on Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations climate change conference. The relationship soured over PNG's involvement in helping disgraced former Solomon Islands attorney-general Julian Moti evade an Australian extradition attempt. But Mr Rudd said both countries were determined to repair the damage after a "good and long" conversation. "I said to Sir Michael, and he agreed, that it was time to turn a new page in Australia's relationship with Papua New Guinea," Mr Rudd told reporters at the Australian consulate. "This relationship has been through a very difficult period in recent times. There has, in effect, been a freeze on ministerial contact between the two governments. I do not believe that's an appropriate way forward for the future. "We have to get on with the business of reviewing the totality of our relationship and taking that relationship forward." Ministerial relations between the two nations will resume and a top-level delegation of ministers will visit PNG early next year for an Australian-PNG Ministerial Forum. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will head the Australian delegation, which will also include Climate Change Minister Penny Wong and economist Ross Garnaut, who is conducting the Rudd government's climate change review. "This is a critical relationship for Australia. We've got to get this relationship right," he said. The two leaders discussed climate change and deforestation. Australian officials will visit Port Moresby in January to discuss ways to stop the cutting down of PNG's rainforests.

Day Fifteen. Parliament to sit for 15 days longer under Rudd

Under the Howard Government it was unusual for the Upper or Lower House to sit on a Friday but now the House of Representatives will regularly sit five days a week.

Apart from allowing greater accountability and scrutiny, and greater access for the backbench, hopefully Australia is getting 25% greater productivity per ton of carbon emissions spent schlepping the parliamentarians in and out of Canberra.


Day Nineteen. Australia leads 31 countries in formal whaling protest to the Japanese Government

Er... Howard would not have done that. He never lifted a finger to stop the Japanese whalers conducting their 'research' in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary that Australia has responsibility for protecting. To be fair, we always had strong leadership in the International Whaling Commissions under Howard. But he would never have risked ruffling diplomatic feathers with our biggest trading partner.

The Federal Government and anti-whaling groups today welcomed as a small victory Japan's decision to suspend the planned kill of 50 humpbacks. But they have pledged to maintain pressure on Tokyo to end the so-called scientific whaling program. Japan said its decision not to catch humpbacks for "one year or two" came after consultation with the International Whaling Commission (IWC), although it noted the strength of the Australian opposition to the annual hunt.

There is a bit of wow factor here. How will this affect the relationship between our two countries, where the whaling issue being is the only note of discord in an otherwise harmonious relationship? Not a jot, I reckon, but who knows? The whaling lobby in Japan must be powerful to persist with their pursuit in the face of diminishing demand for whale meat.


Day Twenty. Federal Government Paves Way for Haneef To Work In Australia

Former terrorism suspect Mohamed Haneef is keen to reapply for his position at the Gold Coast Hospital after the federal government yesterday paved the way for his return. New Labor Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the Indian national was entitled to return to work after the full bench of the Federal Court upheld a judge's earlier decision to reinstate his work visa. The doctor's visa was withdrawn by the former Howard government on character grounds despite terrorism charges against him being dropped. Dr Haneef's Brisbane-based lawyer Peter Russo today informed the devout Muslim, who is currently in Mecca with his wife and mother, of Mr Evans' decision not to appeal the court's ruling.

Rudd's Government is signalling that it is not going to run the War on Terror as one of Howard's famous Culture Wars. I so hope this is born out. I am bored to death of 'em. Not only did this culture-skirmish make for bumpy relations with India and discredit us in their eyes, the Queensland hospital system copped collateral damage by losing a good doctor and the generation of bad PR for future overseas recruitments.


Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Open email to Wayne Swan, Federal Treasurer

To: Wayne Swan, Federal Treasurer
Cc: Tim Blair, Daily Telegraph
Bcc: Global Warming Watch

Re: Gettin' me some of that Global Warming Religion


Dear Mr Swan,

Firstly, thank you for organising with Tim to answer the questions raised by his thought-provoking article in Saturday's Daily Telegraph.

Any questions about this column should be addressed to wayne.swan.mp@aph.gov.au.

I wondered about the wisdom of your accepting the hospital-pass, and tacking the weighty climate change issues Tim aired for his knowledge-starved readership — you must be busy delivering my tax-cuts. But it soon becomes apparent how clever Tim is. You are the Treasurer after all (btw, congratulation your new job, and good luck).

As you know, Tim is considering switching his belief system — Capitalism, it seems — to "Join the Green revolution!", and his article is about his due diligence.

My questions, which I now raise to you, are:

1) What part of that bloody year long electoral assault did I sleep though to miss the news that global warming awareness is now a religion?

"Ditch your old ways of thinking," emailers urge. "Join the Green revolution!"

Very well. I'm game.

But first, some due diligence is required. Before signing any contracts, a fellow needs to know his new belief system is in sound working order, unburdened by internal contradictions and free of technical glitches that may end up causing frustrating warranty claims.

Now, I had always thought that climate science, like any science, was more about establishing the the absence of belief. But hey, if living green is somehow a new religion, so be it; You are the new Government. And Tim's a good journo.

So... I re-use, reclaim and recycle.

I offset. I vegetate with drought-tolerant natives. I pay extra for green electricity. I invest in energy-efficient lighting. Catch public transport, or I fill up on E10 at an indy petrol station, getting between 8-12 litres to the 100kms. I wear out more shoe leather than before. Often I don't travel, I Skype instead. I eat locally produced, and less meat now. I consume conscientiously. It's all going rather well, and it's a welcome change from the frenetic pace of before. My doctor is happier with me, and food tastes better. Well, I do some of these things.

So you can imagine my joy at the startling news that now Greed is Good Green is God, Tim's endorsement of you as Australia's first Treasure-Priest. He clearly understands that the acid test for any religion is not evidence of a creation myth, or ancient sacred-texts, or holy men and religious leaders, rituals, festivals, houses of worship, and land.

All that stuff is nice to have for your religion taxonomist, but Tim knows that a tax-free status is what's definitive. Which is why he referred me to you, no doubt: My second question is:

2) Where's my tax deduction for expenses occurred in all of the above?

It doesn't stop there. I don't want to go as far as Cate Blanchett's $1.5 million greenovation of her Hunter's Hill mansion, but I do want to throw a few squid on the solar panels BBQ.

Unless I see a fat little rebate in my tax-return, I'm forced to conclude that climate science is exactly that, science, not faith. And to look twice at the rest of Tim's claims.

Like his problem with your new prime minister appointing a petrol commissioner to monitor price-fixing among petrol companies.

But he also vowed to appoint a petrol price commissioner to monitor big oil companies, with the aim of keeping fuel prices down. Now, the purpose of ratifying Kyoto is to cut our carbon emissions; but the result of cheaper fuel will be to increase carbon emissions.

Tim's not really making a clear conversion from his Capitalism here, which clearly is Orthodox Cartel Capitalism, as distinct from Free-Market Capitalism. He's arguing against ratifying Kyoto, yet wants to limit emissions by ignoring the week-to-week evidence of oil-industry price-collusion.

But I like his argument that Green is the New Religion. I want a tax advantage for my carbon cuts since I am doing my bit.

Yours, in speaking truth to green power,

Wadard

Global Warning Climate Change Energy