By Andrew Bolt ~
Background:
Now almost six weeks since the former Labor Government was comprehensively beaten at the Federal Election, and after an exhaustive process, Bill Shorten has been elected as the Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party and as such, he now becomes The Leader Of The Opposition in Australia. Shorten is an ex Union Leader, and has been a Member of Parliament since November of 2007, not yet 6 years…..TonyfromOz.
Australian Government Leader Of The Opposition Bill Shorten
The new Coalition Government in Australia should waste no time in hanging the carbon tax around Labor leader Bill Shorten’s neck:
Legislation to scrap the carbon tax could be circulated to business as soon as the end of this week and is likely to be introduced into parliament on November 13, setting the scene for a Senate showdown early in the new year.
Shorten should already realise he’s keeping bad company when he commits to a useless and damaging tax on power bills that voters have clearly decided they want gone:
Mr Shorten said Labor believed that carbon pollution “needs a price on it”. His position was backed by three powerful union leaders and Greens leader Christine Milne who “welcomed” Mr Shorten’s position.
“What we are saying, categorically, unequivocally, black and white, completely, is we are determined that there should be a price on carbon pollution,” Mr Shorten said.
The Abbott Government should now bring on that Senate showdown as fast as it can.
If Labor blocks the repeal of a carbon tax (one it actually promised itself to repeal only a few months ago), it will keep power prices higher than they should be. Every power bill to every home from then on will include a Shorten tax. The price of Shorten’s negativity. The Abbott Government should make Shorten responsible for as much of the carbon tax pain as possible.
And if the carbon tax is ultimately repealed next year by the incoming Senate? Will Labor really go to the next election promising to bring back a new carbon tax (in the force of an emissions trading scheme) to raise power prices? It is horribly fascinating to see a major party so blinded by ideology, or so fearful of the religious cranks in its ranks, that it is unable to ditch an irrational and suicidal policy.
UPDATE
On day two of his leadership, Shorten is exactly where the Prime Minister wants him. Voting with the Greens, which produced the carbon tax as part of their alliance with Labor in the last parliament, and facing attacks from the Coalition that he is defying the will of the people.
UPDATE 2
An intelligent Labor opposition would join with the government to vote to abolish the carbon tax AND the successor ETS now…
Labor could seek to make that support conditional on the government agreeing to `reform’ Senate voting to limit the micro-party lottery that has most hurt Labor (and the Greens)…
Assuming Palmer ultimately comes back to earth and votes to abolish the carbon tax after next July, is Shorten seriously going to go to the next election “promising to bring back the (dirty big) carbon tax/ETS?’’…
If Shorten was smart, he would negotiate with Abbott to abolish the carbon tax/ETS – conditional on the government agreeing to bring it back when and if the world, and especially China, accepts mandatory global emission cuts.
In a word: never.
Andrew Bolt is a journalist and columnist writing for The Herald Sun in Melbourne Victoria Australia.
Andrew Bolt’s columns appear in Melbourne’s Herald Sun, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Adelaide’s Advertiser. He runs the most-read political blog in Australia and hosts Channel 10’s The Bolt Report each Sunday at 10am. He is also heard from Monday to Friday at 8am on the breakfast show of radio station MTR 1377, and his book Still Not Sorry remains very widely read.
Read more excellent articles from Andrew Bolt’s Blog . http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/
