Australian Political Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has today stunned observers by reversing his position on a carbon tax – ruling out any future reinstatement of a carbon tax.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald;
“We will not have a carbon tax, the Australian people have spoken and Labor is not going to go back to that,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.
Despite turning his back on a carbon tax, the Labor Opposition Leader continues to back the introduction of a “market based mechanism” for tackling “carbon pollution”.
One of the core platforms of the current Abbott government, which helped propel him to electoral victory last year, was the promised abolition of the deeply unpopular carbon tax.
Until recently, Labor advocated reinstating a carbon tax, pending the negotiation of a market based pricing mechanism, but they now appear to be backing away from carbon pricing, however tentatively – possibly due to the deep unpopularity of the carbon tax, and to internal pressure from their union supporters, some of whom are concerned about the impact of carbon pricing on jobs and pay.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/10/08/aussie-renewable-target-everyone-gets-an-exemption/
Abbott’s Liberal National Coalition government, and Coalition state governments, have been keen to keep voters focussed on how much carbon pricing cost them in their daily lives, by passing well publicised cost reductions back to consumers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-21/public-transport-fares-to-get-cheaper-in-queensland/5758504
h/t to Eric Worrall
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Hopefully, where Australia leads, others will follow. I hope George Osborne is watching.
Highly doubtful. His boss is David “Greenest Government Ever” Cameron.
not with Nigel Farage poaching his MPs.Scrap or suspend or amend the Climate Change Act Albatross around his neck.
Osbourne is not watching, but Nigel Farage certainly is. Please see the UKIP energy policy, which I have posted lower down this thread.
And this policy may be a significant point in the next election. UKIP are the only Climate Realists in UK politics, at a time when public opinion is moving away from Climate Scaremongering. A scan of Daily Mail comments on climate, will reveal a deep skepticism – in the UK’s largest selling tabloid newspaper. (The UK has three classes of newspaper – broadsheets (quality), tabloids (semi-quality), and red-tops (tits and bums). )
So UKIP is riding a wave of Climate Realism, with a policy they have had for years, with the next general election only months away. The other parties cannot change their Climate Scaremongering at such a late stage in the electoral cycle, so only UKIP will have a Climate Realism manifesto in the next election. Since the electorate is now fully aware of how renewable energy simply does not work, and are fully aware of the £-hundreds it is costing them every year in higher fuel bills and taxes, the UKIP’s Climate Realism energy policy could be a deciding factor at the next election.
Ralph
In a sea of stupidity and inanity, a glimmer of common sense from Oz. Could the Age of Stupid be crumbling? One desperately hopes so.
Slowly, very slowly. There’s obviously never going to be a retraction of the AGW ‘theory’ but things do seem to be moving the right wy.
Aaargh! Fumble fingers…..wAy.
I suspect that Labor has become somewhat disillusioned by their “Gree” allies.
“Green” sticky keyboard
This does not represent a change in policy. It represents a realisation that the policy is unsaleable in its present packaging. It does, however on face represent a major backflip.
‘Bout time our DownUnder friends got up from under this foolishness, and leaving unsolved, problems that have been shown not to exist!!!
Someone out there must have had a proper education…..
Possibly the former Rhodes Scholar who heads the Australian government.
Please tell us more about him.
“[…] possibly due to the deep unpopularity of the carbon tax, and to internal pressure from their union supporters, some of whom are concerned about the impact of carbon pricing on jobs and pay.”
Aha! When the rank and file catch on, the jig is up. Our Overlord wannabees will have to find another way to pick our pockets.
Jusso! But it helps to have a leader.
The day before the 2010 election Gillard, then our Labor Prime Minister said “there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead”, and five days after the election she announced that there would be.
Now Shorten is saying “there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead”. Trust Labor? Sure, why not?
Thanks for reminding everybody. Don’t trust a word ‘they’ say!
The ALP wil, and has, abandoned any principle no matter how dearly held for the opportunity to regain government.
Another dearly held ALP principle as espoused by ex-minister Peter Garrett was “don’t worry, we’ll just change it after the election”
In the US, once the party returned to power, the words you would heár would be something like, “This is not a tax. It is a fee to be páid to the government for the cost of climate change caused by your emissions.” Then they would argue in front of the Supreme Court that it was a tax.
My father was a union Democrat in the US, and his father was a Republican store owner. Both voted “their pocket book”. My dad explained to me early in life that people vote to further their own interests, and I countered that the voters seemed to vote against their own interest a lot or that they were pretty stupid. He countered that the voters would vote for what they perceive to be in their own best interests or that of their children — he pointed out that grandfather had voted for more money for education his whole life. He told me that the power elites had many channels by which to drown us in propaganda. (he really said lies and BS)
At some point, the voters of Australia started punishing those politicians who were hurting their economic interests and that of their children and grandchildren. The reality overcame the propaganda. It is the government and its willing allies in the mainstream media that fool so many people with their constant and over-the-top propaganda. Sometimes the voters see through the propaganda, but it takes a lot for them to see reality.
The idea that the industrial revolution was evil is somehow ingrained in the minds of many of the people who self-label themselves (in America at least) as “progressives” or “liberals” — and they instinctively believe anything that “proves” that mankind’s activities are “bad”.
I was talking to a young “progressive” the other day and she believes in catastrophic anthropogenic global warming. When I asked her why, she did not have facts or figures — she said “because mankind is stupid and evil”. What does one say to that?
“Speak for yourself.”
I did. You can see my name above the comment. Are you a sock puppet of S. Mosher?
I provided an answer that you asked for, to “because mankind is stupid and evil” adage.
I see now.
But that answer does not work because there a literally millions of examples of humans acting stupid and doing evil things One would surely lose in a verbal exchange that tried to deny the ability of mankind to do horrible things. I have faith in human nature, but I do know that humans can be so very deluded at times. Look over what WW1 did to the Western World for but one example.
she said “because mankind is stupid and evil”.
I think she just proved her point. At least in her case.
she said “because mankind is stupid and evil”. What does one say to that?”
============
do you also consider womankind to be stupid and evil?
good one
Yes it is, look at the way we allow retirees and poor people who can’t afford carbon taxes to freeze to death during the winter.
It’s hardly a stunning development. The Carbon Tax was a near death experience for the ALP at the last election. Oz went from zero to hero in less than a year in rolling back the curse of green politics.
Before – http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/the-creeping-betrayal-of-democracy-in-australia/
After – http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/australia-you-beaut/
Pointman
The Labor Party position on the carbon tax has been more than a little ambiguous, but they did introduce it, and they fought pretty hard to prevent Abbott abolishing it. So a statement they will never re-introduce it, because they believe the Australian people have rejected it, from a party which claims to be “of the people”, seems a little firmer than some of their previous positions.
Eric
I’m certain that you know better than that !! “A little firmer” I presume means that it may not be as bigger lie as Gillard’s. I wouldn’t trust a poli if my life did not depend on it.
They have only changed the form. The Renewable Energy COmpanies are fighting hard though to keep their back door carbon tax. They are proposing that they will concede the Alumina companies do not have to pay the RET ( renewable energy tax). They speak as if they have the power to decide these things and do not rely heavily on tax paid subsidies. They have no bargaining position but like to use false analogies to make their position seem sound.
Best thing Abbot government can do now is to rid the country of the renewable energy legislation.
It’s a fact. The WBCT will never return. And they will legislate for an ETS when they return. Sure, it will be a little lower than the WBCT, and they will spend the money on handouts to their voting base.
That’s total rubbish. It’s been ALP policy to “terminate the carbon tax” since Kevin Rudd announced it before the Sept 2013 election. (Notwithstanding that they voted AGAINST their own policy in spite that Abbott666 wasn’t replacing it with an ETS.)
Today’s announcement provides new information.
well seeing as KRudd was so concerned that carbon?climate was our biggest moral issue of all time..
and he
was going to be THE guy, the hero to save us all.
which is why juLIAR ran the no carbon tav line till she got her bum on the seat.
ha ha ha ha
labors now sending me begging emails to fund them for 40$ of annoying phone calls
to get elected
even funnier is how they got my email
i wrote to tell em how stupid they were and I was sick to death of their lies n bullshit
so?
they add me to their email friends list
roflmao!
I wonder how the Fairfax Media will view that? They are really on the left; where Labor resides.
they will bury this news on page 27 of a 26 page newspaper
No, the Silly Moaning is running it prominently. They have out the hated WBCT into the forgettery. It was ETS they always wanted, because that’s how al-Gore, Buffett and the other Oligarchs make their billions. WBCT was only ever a stepping stone to this “market-based mechanism” for delivering wealth to the oligarchs.
The Sydney Morning Herald is Fairfax Media – so it’s their journos and editorial staff who’ll be reeling.
Fairfax: The Anti Abbot Age and the Sydney Moaning Hamas, are shortly going to have to eat their words. It won’t be a pretty sight and they’ll dodge and duck and then come up with “I told you so.” Get the popcorn.
Global warming/climate change scare tactics have flopped in Oz as Labor abandons the faithful. Thus the handwriting is on the wall. The intensification of the global cooling trend over the next decade or so will bury the true believers and the Greens under a heap of discredit. There will soon be a scramble worldwide as elected officials hasten to declare “Far be it from me to be a carbon taxer.” In a few years time, the last of the bird blenders will noisily clank to a halt.
I’m getting that déjà vu feeling all over again.
So let me get this crystal clear….There will be no carbon tax under any government he leads?
Unless he needs the Greens to take power.
Let’s recalculate productivity levels by including the current doubling of electricity prices (in Australia). While we’re there let’s project what would happen to those figures if we banned cars over under 50mpg.
and most of that doubling?
is the goldplated fees Labor allowed n funded tax breaks etc on!
service fee for ONE mth, 33$
my power use 55$
its not the power you use as much as the total bullshit sneaked in service charges of near 395 a yr avg.
we really need to pin the powercos to the walls and sort this out!
I will be interested to see whether that great supporter of AGW, the New Zealand Herald, prints this excellent news. Also whether there is any sign that our recently re-elected prime Minister John Key understands the elementary science or continues to rely on the stupid advice proffered by his Chief Scientific Adviser who built his career in matters connected with child health! Once again, Australia leads Australasia!
It’s misogynist to post that video.
Yes, well, stunning reversal or not, It sounds like snake oil is still lubricating the Gillard Legacy.
@markstoval: “Sometimes the voters see through the propaganda, but it takes a lot for them to see reality.”
It can look like that, but I am not so dismissive of the majority, most of whom according to polls do not see CAGW as much of a problem. I think it just takes a very long time for politicians to hear what the ordinary voter is saying. Until an election makes their views obvious – and sometimes not even then – the politician is able to ignore them.
“I was talking to a young “progressive” the other day and she believes in catastrophic anthropogenic global warming. When I asked her why, she did not have facts or figures — she said “because mankind is stupid and evil”. What does one say to that?”
Given that, is she is typical, she probably exists in a echo-chamber of progressive, lefty discourse, I guess she is correctly speaking from the only personal experience she has.
“It can look like that, but I am not so dismissive of the majority, most of whom according to polls do not see CAGW as much of a problem.” ~ soarergtl
You may have a point on the narrow issue of CAGW, but I was talking more generally. I blog mainly about political philosophy and could give dozens of examples to support my original contention, but that would be very off topic and might lead to “thread jacking”. I would not want to be on our host’s radar so I’ll leave that alone. (after all, I already am on record as believing that CO2 does no warming on net and have believed that since the 70s — but the puts me too close to that banned group for our host’s comfort)
Let me give just one example of the propaganda that is rarely overcome. In my lifetime the USA has gone to war overseas on many, many occasions. Every time the public was told that we had to do so for our own safety. We were told that we are “a good people” and it was terrible that we had to go to war but the evil [insert name of your favorite bad-guy here] had to be stopped in the name of our “national security”. The truth is that in every case we were lied to and yet the people still buy the codswollop every time. It is like Charlie Brown and Lucy with that football.
As a radical libertarian, it is easy for me to see the myths that the American left believe and easy to see the many myths that the American right believe. Sometimes the propaganda works so very well that you don’t know it exists at all.
Yes, but, you do know liberals lie. I’ve leaned lib-speak and what the guy said was “Just like gay marriage, gun control, wealth redistribution, and many others, we’re putting the whole think on the back burner to simmer a bit. But we’ll be back and win again on this.”
It’s the Long March.
she said “because mankind is stupid and evil”. What does one say to that?”
============
do you also consider womankind to be stupid and evil?
This is really big news. Previous Prime minister of Labor Party (socialists) said it “was the greatest moral challenge of our time ”
So now one of the central policies of the Labor Party has gone, good riddance.
Labour morals clearly is a fluid concept.
Flannery is no longer on the funding teat. The carbon tax has been abolished. Shorten finally read the opinion polls.
From Flim Flam to Flip Flop
Flummery, actually.
@meltemian
October 11, 2014 at 1:36 am
Slowly, very slowly. There’s obviously never going to be a retraction of the AGW ‘theory’ but things do seem to be moving the right way….
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”
― Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Or try this venerable old quote:
I believe that good philosophers fly alone, like eagles, and not in flocks like starlings. It is true that because eagles are rare birds they are little seen and seldom heard, while birds that fly like starlings fill the sky with shrieks and cries, and wherever they settle befoul the Earth beneath them. The Assayer, by Galileo Galilei (1623)
Climate Realists are eagles, while Mr Mann fouls the Earth…..
Ralph
Australians, they walk upside down. No wonder they get things right when in the Northern Hemisphere everything is viewed rectospectively.
From our perspective, everyone else is upside down… 😉
Too True. Whenever I Skype my son in Oz, I turn the screen upside down. 🙂
in a few weeks, Gilliard will be in Philadelphia to appear in a speaker series. Any good ideas for a question from the audience would be appreciated. Rtpilot(one) at gmail.
A question from the audience she is guaranteed to fail:
“Ms. Gilliard, how much is 7 multiplied by 8?”
Ask her to explain the settled science, lol. Her only science is how to whinge.
You need a Latin epitaph on that gravestone:
“SIC TRANSIT CALEFACTIO MUNDI”
Shorten is trying his best to BS everyone. He knows that the public will not have a bar of a carbon tax, but he knows that the activists on the left of his own party (still a significant force in Labor which Shorten needs to placate) love the idea of national economic suicide. So he’s trying to lie to the voters but dog whistle to the loony left. We Australians need to keep reinforcing to our fellow citizens that he is really saying “there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead”. (Non-Aussies, that quote, which is in Australia a catchphrase for total mendacity, is explained in postings above.)
I can’t see Shorten leading the Labour party at the next election. Then again, there is a dearth of talent within the party so maybe he will. Such a giant fall from the governments of Hawke and Keating.
And the UK’s UKIP party is pledged to do the same, should they hold the balance of power in next year’s general election. Ad do remember that UKIP poled 60% of the vote, at the last election to the UK’s Westminster parliament, just two days ago. A resounding victory never before seen in UK politics.
Here is UKIP’s energy policy, which pours scorn from upon high, onto (nearly) all things renewable. It also backs Thorium power, and has a couple of cartoons by Josh in it:
http://www.ukipmeps.org/uploads/file/energy-policy-2014-f-20-09-2013.pdf
Ralph