The problem with the carbon tax, writes Greg Hunt, is that it didn’t work. The Environment Minister and Flinders MP answers his critics.
LAST week we did what the Australian people voted us in to do at the last election: we abolished the carbon tax.
The tax did not do the job it set out to do. In its two-year lifespan the carbon tax hit the economy to the tune of $15.4 billion. In its first year, emissions fell by 0.1 per cent.
The whole design of the carbon tax was around driving up electricity and gas prices, forcing them onto low-income earners.
The Government believes in climate change – clearly, absolutely and unequivocally – and is committed to our emissions reduction target. There has been no change on this position from when the Coalition was in opposition to now being in government.
The problem with the carbon tax is that it did not reduce emissions in any significant way. It was a complete failure in its fundamental task, as well as being unfair and without a mandate.
Australia’s emissions reduction target remains 5 per cent by 2020 based on 2000 levels. The Government is committed to achieving this target, without a punitive tax.
At the heart of our Direct Action plan is the Emissions Reduction Fund. The ERF is an incentives-based market system, which includes upgrading commercial business, reducing electricity generator emissions and reforesting and revegetating marginal lands.
Currently the Parliament is considering the Carbon Farming Initiative Amendment Bill, which provides the framework for administering the Emissions Reduction Fund.
Our market-based mechanism will purchase the lowest-cost emissions reduction, wherever it occurs in Australia – whether it's cleaning up power stations, whether it's cleaning up waste coal mine gas.
Renewable energy has an important role in providing Australia’s energy supply, and the Government recognises this. The Government has no plans to abolish the Renewable Energy Target. The RET Scheme is currently undergoing an independent review, meeting a legislative requirement for a review to be conducted in 2014.
The Government acknowledges that there are a range of views of about the impact of the RET Scheme on energy prices.
We will not pre-empt the review into the RET and will await the independent panel’s findings, which will be presented to the Government in the coming weeks.
There are many ways to tackle emissions reduction and the world is seeing that each country is pursuing policies that work best for them.
No other country in the world has an economy-wide carbon tax or equivalent scheme. The US, Canada and Japan have all moved away from the idea of a national carbon tax for the simple reason that it doesn't work.
By abolishing the carbon tax, we are reducing the cost for pensioners, seniors, and low income families.
We were voted into office to achieve four major things. We have already overwhelmingly stopped the loss of life at sea through our Border Protection Policy and now we have repealed the carbon tax.
We are well down the track towards building infrastructure and roads and we will keep working to repair the budget so the next generation doesn’t have a massive impairment on their ability to carry out their lives in an economically stable society.
You do the job, and if you do the job well, the Australian people will make their judgement.
Greg Hunt is the federal Environment Minister and MP for Flinders.
COMMENTS
July 28, 2014
Greg Hunt is right, the Australian people voted to get rid of the carbon tax. It is also right that he will be remebered as an Environment minister who did not protect the environment. These two concepts are not mutually exclusive.However if you accept the concept that man has pumped tons and tons of smoke and polution into the atmosphere for over 300 years and that this is having a disastrous effect on our climate, and if you accept the concept that the market is the most efficient means of allocating resources and that people best respond to price signals, then an ETS or price on carbon pollution is the best way to go. if you do not accept these two concepts then you probably believe Mr hunt and his Government did the right thing, I am not sure future generations will believe so.
Stephen Paul
The tax did not do the job it set out to do. In its two-year lifespan the carbon tax hit the economy to the tune of $15.4 billion. In its first year, emissions fell by 0.1 per cent.
The whole design of the carbon tax was around driving up electricity and gas prices, forcing them onto low-income earners.
The Government believes in climate change – clearly, absolutely and unequivocally – and is committed to our emissions reduction target. There has been no change on this position from when the Coalition was in opposition to now being in government.
The problem with the carbon tax is that it did not reduce emissions in any significant way. It was a complete failure in its fundamental task, as well as being unfair and without a mandate.
Australia’s emissions reduction target remains 5 per cent by 2020 based on 2000 levels. The Government is committed to achieving this target, without a punitive tax.
At the heart of our Direct Action plan is the Emissions Reduction Fund. The ERF is an incentives-based market system, which includes upgrading commercial business, reducing electricity generator emissions and reforesting and revegetating marginal lands.
Currently the Parliament is considering the Carbon Farming Initiative Amendment Bill, which provides the framework for administering the Emissions Reduction Fund.
Our market-based mechanism will purchase the lowest-cost emissions reduction, wherever it occurs in Australia – whether it's cleaning up power stations, whether it's cleaning up waste coal mine gas.
Renewable energy has an important role in providing Australia’s energy supply, and the Government recognises this. The Government has no plans to abolish the Renewable Energy Target. The RET Scheme is currently undergoing an independent review, meeting a legislative requirement for a review to be conducted in 2014.
The Government acknowledges that there are a range of views of about the impact of the RET Scheme on energy prices.
We will not pre-empt the review into the RET and will await the independent panel’s findings, which will be presented to the Government in the coming weeks.
There are many ways to tackle emissions reduction and the world is seeing that each country is pursuing policies that work best for them.
No other country in the world has an economy-wide carbon tax or equivalent scheme. The US, Canada and Japan have all moved away from the idea of a national carbon tax for the simple reason that it doesn't work.
By abolishing the carbon tax, we are reducing the cost for pensioners, seniors, and low income families.
We were voted into office to achieve four major things. We have already overwhelmingly stopped the loss of life at sea through our Border Protection Policy and now we have repealed the carbon tax.
We are well down the track towards building infrastructure and roads and we will keep working to repair the budget so the next generation doesn’t have a massive impairment on their ability to carry out their lives in an economically stable society.
You do the job, and if you do the job well, the Australian people will make their judgement.
Greg Hunt is the federal Environment Minister and MP for Flinders.
COMMENTS
July 28, 2014
Greg Hunt is right, the Australian people voted to get rid of the carbon tax. It is also right that he will be remebered as an Environment minister who did not protect the environment. These two concepts are not mutually exclusive.However if you accept the concept that man has pumped tons and tons of smoke and polution into the atmosphere for over 300 years and that this is having a disastrous effect on our climate, and if you accept the concept that the market is the most efficient means of allocating resources and that people best respond to price signals, then an ETS or price on carbon pollution is the best way to go. if you do not accept these two concepts then you probably believe Mr hunt and his Government did the right thing, I am not sure future generations will believe so.
Stephen Paul