|
February 24, 2008
In the Sunday Age Jason Koutsoukis makes the following judgement:
....no matter how much spin the Liberals put on last week's poll results, the numbers are brutally honest. Brendan Nelson's leadership is finished before it has really begun.....The tumbril is ready and Nelson will doubtless be carted off to the guillotine when those jockeying to succeed him see fit.The question is, who will be next on the list?
Matt Golding
If these are the bad days of opposition, then what of Australia and global warming? They are bad days for the coal industry, despite all the hype about technology coming to the rescue in the form of pumping carbon dioxide underground. The coal sector is in peril until carbon capture is a commercial reality.
At least Garnaut had the sense not to advise that emissive intensive firms should not be given free emission permits when Australia's Emissions Trading Scheme is introduced in 2010:
"There is no tradition in Australia for compensating [businesses] for losses associated with economic reforms of general application [for example, general tariff reductions, floating of the currency or introduction of the goods and services tax] ... the business community has been aware of the risks of carbon pricing for many years."
This implies selling all the permits, rather than just some of them and giving the rest away free to selected businesses.
|
Nelson was only ever going to be a temporary measure until the Liberals reorganised and worked out who they really wanted. Julie Bishop's probably the best bet for a viable alternative who would get Rump support. Electorally they'd be better off with Turnbull, but he'll have to wait for some of the upcoming Rump retirements. He'd also be the most convincing on global warming.