LABOR’S POISON PILLS IN THE CARBON TAX

Prior to the 2010 Federal Election, Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan publicly and strenuously denied that the Labor Government would be bringing in a carbon tax:  a tax that the majority of Australians oppose and didn’t vote for.  Gillard and Swan have broken their promises to the Australian people.   Unless a new election is called and this Government is defeated before July 2012 – Australia will have a carbon tax.  Australians have never witnessed such defiant and brazen actions by a Government, and they’re concerned and angry.

The Carbon (Dioxide) Tax won’t do anything to change the climate, stop floods, droughts or sea levels rising.  But it will make Australia less competitive internationally, hurt business and cost jobs – while doing almost nothing to reduce global greenhouse gases.  The tax is not a ‘market based solution’ as Combet and Gillard often call it.  It’s a tax that puts our economy under pressure.  And it will do nothing to change the temperature of the planet or change the climate.

There are 19 pieces of legislation with 963 pages (1100 including addendums) – that will push costs up throughout Australia.   Australians now have 5 days to make representations opposing the carbon tax.

The Gillard/Greens Government is is putting Australian jobs at risk.  It’s unbelievable that Labor back benchers, who stand to be wiped out at the next Federal election, support the inevidable increase in the cost of living, making Australian manufacturing less competitive and giving international competitors an advantage.

We are still waiting for Julia Gillard to name the 500 biggest ‘polluters‘ – companies that are the biggest employers of Australians.

The Daily Telegraph reported today that 950,000 workers are in danger of losing their jobs from the carbon tax.  Research commissioned by the Australian Trade and Industry Alliance claimed manufactuers would be worse off than their European counterparts under an ETS.  Research commissioned by the Alliance claims that 950,000 were employed by companies that will be exposed to the carbon tax without compensation.  14.6million European manufacturing workers were protected through free carbon permits while only 93,600 Australian manufacturing workers were employed by companies in Australia that would get assistance.  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/workers-in-danger-with-carbon-tax/story-e6freuy9-1226140331684

Australian companies will pay $650 billion to buy carbon permits, or 1.5% GDP by 2020.  That’s if they don’t move offshore to avoid the tax.  Countries without a carbon tax will not reduce greenhouse gases and will be more competitive than Australia.

60% of our abatement permits will be coming from overseas.  We’ll be paying for a new, clean green future – but not for Australia.  Hard-earned Australian dollars will be spent in countries like Kurdistan and Uzbekistan, mired in corruption and inefficiency, and it is doubtful they’ll have the mechanisms in place to reduce carbon (dioxide).

The Gillard/Brown Government is creating a costly straight jacket for future Australian prosperity.  

China and India will continue to belch out greenhouse gases and use our coal for cheap energy:  something denied to Australian companies and citizens.

In an interview with Alan Jones on 2GB this morning, Professor Henry Ergas* said that the legislation is structured so that repealing it could become very costly.  The link to the podcast is below.

The Federal Government is making this legislation ‘Abbott proof‘ by inserting poison pills so the next elected Government cannot repeal the tax without paying out billions of dollars in compensation.  By doing this, the Gillard Government will eliminate flexibility for all future Governments – both Labor and Liberal.  They’ve used the bureacracy to ‘Abbott proof’ the legislation and in doing so, are undermining the democratic process.   Unless repealed, Australia will be saddled with this costly and insane legislation until perpetuity.

Mark Dreyfus, QC and the Federal Member for Isaacs first raised this point:  once the legislation is in place, under Section 51/31 of the Australian Constitution, compensation would need to be paid to owners of carbon permits.

Professor Ergas said that repeal would amount to the Commonwealth acquiring property (also known as permits).  Under this carbon tax legislation, a carbon permit will become personal property – even though international Governments have not treated carbon permits as personal property or property rights.  The international trend is for Governments not to do this so they can have flexibility and the ability to revise legislation as circumstances change.  The poison pills have been built into the legislation and will affect future Governments for decades to come.

To make matters worse, details of the Treasury modelling on which this tax is based, have not been released.  Yet, Australians are being asked to make a decision on the C02 tax – without going to a new election.

Where are the Independents who supported the Gillard Government because they supported ‘democracy’?  Even if they vote for the Carbon Dioxide Tax, the Independents must vote to remove the points that lock Australia into this Tax for all time.

Alan Jones interview with Professor Henry Ergas – enough to make your blood boil.  http://www.2gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7892&Itemid=76

Professor Henry Ergas is a regulatory economist who has worked at the OECD, Australian Trade Practices Commission (now the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and the Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics (ACORE) Advisory Group. Professor Ergas chaired the Australian Intellectual Property and Competition Review Committee set up by the Australian Federal Government in 1999 to review Australia’s intellectual property laws as they relate to competition policy.   He is Adjunct Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore and has taught at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Centre for Research in Network Economics and Communications at the University of Auckland, Monash University and at the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique in Paris.  He was an independent contributor to a paper submitted to the U.S. FCC which cautions against imposing regulations that, while aimed at net neutrality, may cause costs that exceed the expected benefits.

To have your say:

Please, send your submission (no matter how brief), to the Joint Select Committee and ensure Julia Gillard’s tactics to suppress our democratic right to express our concerns, and silence the truth – do NOT succeed!

We, the citizens of Australia, REJECT this tax and any ETS that may follow.

• the Government has no mandate to introduce this ruinous tax and ETS
• this tax will render Australian business (big and small) uncompetitive and destroy our economy
• this tax will create terrible suffering for those already struggling with day to day expenses
• this tax will lead to bankruptcy
• this tax will do nothing to help our environment; it is just a “tax grab”.
• this tax will lead to an increase in REAL POLLUTION
• this tax is based on FRAUDULENT SCIENCE
• this tax will reduce the chances of future generations having a prosperous future
• the majority of eminent qualified scientists DO NOT agree with man-made climate change

Not sure how to prepare a submission?  Click on this link:

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/documnts/howsub.htm

A short paragraph explaining how destructive and futile this tax on carbon dioxide, and the ETS, will do.

Lodging your submission:

• Address it to The Secretary of the Joint Select Committee, and  email to  jscacefl@aph.gov.au
• Fax your SIGNED submission to 02 6277 4774,
• Express-post it on Monday 16 September (NO later) to:

The Secretary
The Joint Select Committee
Care of Parliament House
CANBERRA  ACT  2600
AUSTRALIA

You can contact the Secretary of the Joint Select Committee on 02 6277 4587