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March 4, 2011
If we make a distinction between the policy and politics of a carbon tax, then this article by Eric Knight in Fairfax's National Times is a contribution to the policy debate. He says:
The principle behind a carbon tax is that you cannot solve the environmental problem until you have solved the technological problem. A tax allows the economy to focus on new technologies first, and on achieving environmental parameters second...[an] emissions trading... works only once there is a flourish of affordable low-carbon energy technologies in the marketplace. One hopes the tax will achieve this, then - with more alternative energy sources available - the carbon price needed to change behaviour will be lower.
Lets push all the political theatre and noise to pressure and intimidate the independents into the background.
We can now see that Gillard is adopting the right approach to reform. The problem is that the politicians, obsessed with the politics of a tax on petrol, still have their heads in the sand over dwindling oil supplies and increasing oil prices. They continue to believe the oil company spin that oil will be squeezed out of the ground pretty much forever.
The reality is that the price at the petrol pump is rising, Australia is dependent on importing oil, the global oil price is increasing because because it cannot be produced fast enough. demand is projected to be greater than supply in the next 3-4 years (the peak oil crunch point) and no one thinks the long term price of oil is downward. We need to move away from oil – not just because it generates carbon emissions that are heating up the planet through global warming, but also because it is fast running out.
Canberra is doing little to build an alternative low carbon economy and infrastructure that will wean us off our dangerous addition to oil; it is doing next to nothing to reduce the subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Consider the ACF’s recent comparison of the fossil fuel subsidies (red) versus climate change programs (green) in millions of dollars:
That is sobering. There in lies the reality behind the political noise and theatre. No doubt, with increasing pump prices, the various representatives of the haulage industry, vehicle manufacturers and motoring organisations will call for tax breaks to stabilise fuel prices--ie., taxpayers would effectively have to subsidise motorists. That does not help Australia make the shift to a low carbon economy.
The better policy is wean Australia away from foreign oil with a mixture of policies including tax rebates and cash incentives for electric cars, more car pooling services and improvements to public transport.
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We're are beginning to pay the price for a transport policy that's been heading in the wrong direction for decades. The failure to wean our transport system off oil has left us with a car-dependent, oil-guzzling transport system.
The politicians are doing very little to help create a less car-intensive society