By Andrew Bolt
Samuel J, who actually favors adaptation to abatement, makes the political choices brilliantly clear:
The Government has been pushing the Productivity Commission report on Emissions Reduction Policies and Carbon Prices in Key Economies as evidence that its carbon tax and ETS should be supported.
Well, yes, perhaps – if the 230 policy measures identified in Australia were simultaneously removed.
The PC found an implicit abatement subsidy of $44 a tonne of CO2.
So if the Government proposed a carbon tax of $44 a tonne and the removal of the 230 other measures that would be a sensible way forward.
But instead it is offering to keep the 230 measures and add a carbon tax.
In these circumstances, the Coalition’s direct action plan is probably superior.
UPDATE
And if you needed a louder warning:
HOUSEHOLD electricity bills are set to skyrocket up to 30 per cent by mid-2013, with the Gillard government’s renewable energy scheme responsible for 11 per cent of that increase, a report by the government’s chief energy adviser has found.
The costs of the Renewable Energy Target – which provides generous subsidies for rooftop solar schemes and large-scale projects such as wind farms – will explode by 360 per cent over the three years to June 30, 2013, as power companies try to meet the target of sourcing 20 per cent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020…
The report by the Australian Energy Market Commission was released after a meeting of energy and resources ministers in Perth, who vowed to hold special meetings to “consider energy security implications arising from the introduction of a carbon price”.
The document will add further weight to this week’s warnings by the Productivity Commission that the renewable energy incentives being demanded by the Greens are pushing up costs for little environmental gain.
While the commission and big businesses are urging that subsidies for renewable energy be scrapped with the introduction of a carbon price, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson yesterday stared down the demand. He said the government’s approach to clean energy in Australia was through setting a price on carbon and the renewable energy target.
And by how much will all these billions cut the world’s temperature?
UPDATE 2
But try telling the warmists who will impose the carbon dioxide tax to let go of their pet subsidies:
KEY independent MP Tony Windsor says the Productivity Commission has convinced him that a carbon tax is the cheapest way to cut Australia’s greenhouse gases. But he has yet to back away from his support for costly ethanol handouts.
Greens deputy leader Christine Milne likewise welcomed this week’s Productivity Commission report for undercutting “the ridiculous notion that Australia might be moving ahead of the world in putting a price on pollution”.
But she also rejected its finding that direct support for clean “sunrise industries” is a costlier way to deliver Australia’s promised emissions cuts.
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/
