The question is, how long will this last, and how long will the public tolerate these two kissy faced politicians?
The vote in the lower house, which was applauded by Labor MPs and spectators in the public gallery, was a crucial test for the government, given its wafer-thin majority. The bills will now go the Senate for debate but will pass comfortably with help from the Greens, probably next month.
After the vote, Prime Minister Julia Gillard embraced Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, who had the difficult job of steering the policy, and even exchanged a peck on the cheek with Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd, whose reported ambitions to retake the leadership are proving a headache for the Prime Minister.
The passage of the bills are a crucial victory for Ms Gillard, whose popularity has fallen steadily since last year.
Under the legislation, about 500 of the biggest carbon-emitting companies in Australia will pay a price for each tonne of carbon. Most of the biggest emitters are electricity generating firms, mining companies and heavy industry manufacturers.
To compensate households, the government is cutting income taxes and boosting payments such as pensions and other benefits, as well as offering various lump sum payments.
The average household is expected to pay about $9.90 a week in extra living costs, including $3.30 on electricity.
However this will be offset by an estimated $10.10 in extra benefits and tax breaks. The Australian scheme will cover about 60 per cent of Australia’s emissions, making it the most broad-based in the world.
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roger says:
October 12, 2011 at 7:26 am
The BBC 1PM News has come and gone and still not a mention of Julia’s success in negotiating the passage of the planet saving ETS bill.
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The BBC is highly selective about what it reports from Australia (and they normally have a full time correspondent there). For example, AFAIK, the BBC never reported on the New South Wales state elections, which was one of the biggest Labor party defeats of all time. They did however report on some state elections in Germany which occurred around the same time (and which saw a swing to the Socialists).
Lance says:
October 12, 2011 at 6:37 am
the dark ages are upon you….
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I sure wish you were kidding. I had hoped to be dead before the Sociopaths had managed to completely take over. Unfortunately they seem to be accelerating toward a world Totalitarian Government.
When a co2 tax was introduced in Norway, co2 emisiions climbed by 15%
http://www.climatechangedenier.com.au/carbon-tax/norway-an-example-of-a-carbon-tax-that-does-not-work/
The same site expects Oz’s emissions to climb as well.
http://www.climatechangedenier.com.au/carbon-tax/with-a-carbon-tax-australias-co2-emissions-still-increase/
ferd berple says:
October 12, 2011 at 7:55 am
Its worst than we originally thought. The unintended consequences of carbon taxes. When you stand to make millions simply by planting trees, the first step is to take land from those people least able to defend themselves……
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Thank you Fred, we are on the same page. You can not separate the WTO/UN/EU plans to oust farmers from their land from carbon taxes. No wonder Soros and Rothschild and other investors are rushing to invest in farmland like it was the next hot economic bubble! It is a win/win whether they plant corn or trees.
Genetically Modified Forest Planned for U.S. Southeast
The really downside of this is in the future there will be a very sharp rise in food prices, famine and riots. Getting rid of those eucalyptus is no easy matter either as I already mentioned.
“Under the legislation, about 500 of the biggest carbon-emitting companies in Australia will pay a price for each tonne of carbon. Most of the biggest emitters are electricity generating firms, mining companies and heavy industry manufacturers.
To compensate households, the government is cutting income taxes and boosting payments such as pensions and other benefits, as well as offering various lump sum payments.”
Ah, that is what they’ve been doing in Norway since WWII. I’s called socialism.
If the world is watching this I hope it is also examining public opinion in Australia where there is a 49% to 29% split between the dominant, anti-carbon tax Coalition and the struggling, pro-carbon tax Labor/Green government.
And the world knows that 6 days before the election Julia Gillard announced on national television there would be no carbon tax under any government she led and her deputy exclaimed that the Opposition Leader was “hysterical” for suggesting there would one be under a Labor Government.
And the world understands that to gain power (Julia Gillard did not “win” the election) she had to form a minority government with the Greens and some Left leaning independents in a house that is divided by one vote.
And the world is observing the price of the EUA which has plummeted to €10 ($A13.10) well below the fixed price of $A23 the Australian Government has placed on its tax for one tonne of CO2 as anxious companies in the UK and Greece are offloading their permits. And that it is unclear what effect this price differential will have on the Australian economy.
And the world knows that the Business Council of Australia has described Julia Gillard’s Green Alliance scheme as “Not Workable”.
And the world closely follows the health and behaviour of all Australian Labor politicians because a bye election in one of their seats would almost certainly result in a change of government.
And the world closely studies what happens to the climate in the next two years because if the Arctic doesn’t start disappearing and Australia is not plagued by bush fires and the Barrier Reef does not start dying Julia Gillard is going to be in bigger trouble than she is already.
I cannot believe that any government would do this to their citizens but then we have the UK freezing 25,000 of its citizens to death last year due to “fuel poverty”, more to come this year. This Green nonsense is now responsible for more deaths than two World War 2’s with 2 Holocausts.
As to a democratic, not cold country to move to, I am waiting for my house in the Bahamas to close, then moving there. They thnk their electricity is expensive. It is not as expensive as in Ontario plus internet, TV, phone, food, beer, smokes, etc is cheaper than here. No HST, No GST, no retail sales tax, no income tax. Plus the climate is warm so no heating bills. Other friends of mine have moved to Mexico. Even cheaper but I have a problem living in a country where English is not spoken.
Paul Deacon says:
October 12, 2011 at 12:40 pm
My point was that this news would normaly have been shouted from the rooftops of Broadcasting House but so far -nothing !
This passing of the carbon tax is “big news” in Australia…not…It made page 12 in the Adelaide Advertiser daily newspaper!
They are a resource colony of the PRC, PLA boots will be marching through Canberra someday, so in the grand scheme of things, none of this matters.
During that kiss (see above) they were secretly sharing their CO2 exhalations. This is a totally robust scientific fact.
Fred Allen says:
October 12, 2011 at 10:04 am
Electricity providers will have no option but to ration electricity and there’s no way renewable energy will take up the slack. I wonder how long before homeowners start using blackout curtains so that the carbon police cannot see if they are using electricity outside their allocated hours. The ideal welfare government in the making: one that hands out money to encourage businesses and people not to work.
That is what “smart” meters are for. I can’t wait for the “smart” appliances to become mandatory. That way the electric company can ration out the electricity. I’m sure you will be able to buy into an exclusive non-reduction contract…for a price.
Lesson to learn.
1) Never trust a politician
2) They do anything to get into power
3) All politicians believes their own lies is really not a lie
This is facts, Over and dover again.
We had the same situation about some tax the opposition vowed to remove. So well in power it was not so easy because they needed the money. We had many temporary taxes as well, Not a single one have been removed, they just been made permanent. We had the situation one party vowed to remove the taxation on real estate. They renamed it from tax to fee !!! So no if I have earned some money, payed my taxes, buy some wood and build a house I have to pay an additional fee every year because I build a house and did not buy beer. This is in a socialist country called Sweden. (I am out of it …. ). We also have hidden taxes like the garbage tax. Even if we do not have any garbage we still have to pay the fee.
Someone say we have the leaders we deserve, well we can’t help the ballot system do not provide us with qualified runners. We do not see any qualification or what abilities or if the candidate is trustworthy before the election. We have to vote and hope for the best. The system have severe flaws. A candidate that did lie or is caught with any wrong doing should be automatically suspended for life and any pension withdrawn.
Snotrocket says:
October 12, 2011 at 6:54 am
Luke Warm said on October 12, 2011 at 4:09 “For all that, I support you in the hope that Labour/Greens get their cum-upance.”
Ewww! I’ve seen some of that stuff on the net and it ain’t pretty! Still, they have no shame so they’ll gladly take it on the chin.
Apologies for that. Yesterday was indeed a black day in Australian history. If you put this in context of the media (News Ltd) enquiry, the National Broadband Network (govt monopoly) and secret internet filter (including political sites), then not only is this one of many black days to come, but an alarming trend in Australian government control.
I feel bad for the Australians. On the one hand you seem to have a government that understandably does not want to be a forgotten nation among developed anglo-saxon nations, and in this case they seemed to desire to prove themselves up to the task of leading the world. Unfortunately the path they chose to take to make this happen was one which was politically convenient towards those ends rather than pragmatically sound for their constituents. Sorry guys, but this is what happens when we leave it to politicians to look after themselves first.
The sad thing is those people have convinced themselves they just helped save the world and looked good doing it. Obviously it goes without saying that humans have a remarkable capacity for self-deception.
hilarious. If they lose the semi-final …then let’s write off the continent for the bunch of losers they are.
Difficult to decide which is more appalling – carbon tax, or The Very Wonderful Julia Gillard kissing That Nice Mr. Rudd.
Either way, we’re doomed.
@kingkp
“hilarious. If they lose the semi-final …then let’s write off the continent for the bunch of losers they are.”
Disgusting attitude. Not all of us rolled over and took it where the sun don’t shine. Remember, the acts of the minority do not reflect the majority.
Time to move Australia from the “developed” to the “developing” nations list.
Can Australia be downgraded from a continent to just an island? If Pluto can be downgraded from being a planet, why not have a continent become an island?
Besides, as an developing island nation, they’ll qualify to be receiving carbon indulgence money instead of paying it out. Also all those oily eucalyptus trees fueling the rampant wildfires will go from being a nuisance to valuable carbon storage projects. And after nature causes a devastating fire that wipes out a slew of them, exacerbated if not caused by the ravages of global warming, they can get paid for replanting them. Getting paid multiple times for having the same number of trees, how sweet a deal is that?
Yep, passing this bill can potentially be a great win-win situation for Australia, once they get the cartographers and similar on board. Any day now the money will just start rolling in, and Australians will all be incredibly rich*! Good times for all!
*by 3rd-world standards, which appear to be good enough for everyone per UN policy (stated and otherwise), save for actual UN personnel and their business/political associates who obviously need better compensation due to their sheer awesome greatness.
It is very easy to calculate using widely available world emission data, and the IPCC figure of about 3.3 deg C per doubling, that even if Australia cut all carbon emissions immediately the reduction in average world temperature from our noble sacrifice would be about 0.04 deg C.
A recent committee report published their estimate that cost of achieving even the much smaller reductions proposed would be one trillion A$.
Now there is a case study in cost benefit analysis for you!
This is on par with Barry’s desire to “compete” with the Chinese making solar panels. I’m sorry, but he’s such a moron.
Sunspot says:
October 12, 2011 at 3:47 am
The tax on power stations is suppose to force the move to alternate green power plants. I dread to think how high the Carbon Tax needs to go to make these alternate green power plants viable.
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Read the fine print in the Government’s proposal (back page) – the initial $23 a tonne of CO2 and the following rises are estimated to result in an INCREASE of 16% in emissions by 2020, but by 2050 the tax rate wanted is $131.50 and that is forecast to reduce emissions by 6%.
I sent my copy back with the comment “If a business you issued a prospectus as false as this, they would, quite properly, be prosecuted for fraud”.
One commenter to an article in the Australian proclaimed the passing of the tax as, “a great day for those people with respiratory diseases.”
We’re boned- till Tony saves us.
Good news from Australia. Well done Labor.
well Australia has now entered the realm of Stupid is as stupid does… How long before they collapse their economy, whats left of it…..