Daily Telegraph Blog
Posted on Friday, 19 August 2011
If Julia Gillard was still in the business of wearing out her shoe leather promoting the carbon tax, she should have strolled the few hundred metres from her office to Tuesday’s Parliament House rally.
People might not have agreed with her, but they would have respected her for turning up and trying to find some common ground. This is the problem with the Prime Minister and her government: she only wants to talk to people who agree with her and condescends (at best) to everyone who doesn’t.
This week was the anniversary of the big lie: “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”. Sunday is the anniversary of the election in which the government lost its majority.
Soon to come is the anniversary of the deal with the Greens that included the undertaking to break her pre-election promise in return for staying in the Lodge. Is it any wonder that voters are angry?
Next week, the convoy of no confidence comes to Canberra from all over Australia including Port Hedland and Cairns. No doubt there’ll be some people on board with barrows to push.
Mostly, though, these will be hard-working people who don’t like government’s needlessly adding to their cost of living pressures – especially when the Prime Minister explicitly ruled out a carbon tax when the people had their chance to pass judgment.
Clearly, Julia Gillard doesn’t get it. She just doesn’t understand how millions of Australians feel about politicians who say one thing to get elected but do the opposite to stay in office.
That’s why she scoffs at people who don’t like her carbon tax or who recoil from her broken promise.
This week was the Coalition’s first opportunity to expose in the parliament the anomalies in the government’s carbon tax proposals. Under a carbon tax, Australia’s annual emissions actually rise, from 578 to 621 million tonnes by 2020. Hang on, isn’t putting a price on carbon supposed to reduce emissions?
Well, it doesn’t according to the government’s own carbon tax modelling.
So what’s the point of going to all the trouble, cost and churn of a new tax on everything if it doesn’t actually reduce domestic emissions and can only reduce overall emissions by purchasing $3.5 billion a year in credits from overseas carbon traders?
Businesses will pay no carbon tax emitting 24,999 tonnes of CO2 but will need to buy more than $500,000 in carbon licences if their emissions go up one tonne.
This is a bad tax based on a lie and the more people consider it, the less they like it.
19 August 2011