Long live the CPRS. What a farce! The proposed ETS has been delayed 12 months and will be amended with a 25% target. See what Crikey has to say about it. Rudd surrenders to big polluters.
I reckon that this so-called Emissions Trading Scheme was dead months ago and would never have passed through the Senate.
It was so appallingly designed, so much so that it would have done absolutely nothing to actually reduce national emissions. We would have had a cap, that is all. Having it may have been worse than doing nothing.
It locked in millions of free permits for big polluters; it would have locked in emissions targets of 5-15% of 2000 levels by 2020, meaning that emission savings by households and small business would be 100% pointless, as any savings would be added to the quota for big polluters. It would lock in 5-year (or longer) targets and prices, meaning that future governments would be unable to react to changes in the scientific picture which is changing on a daily basis.
It was written by lobbyists for big polluters and destined for the rubbish bin. Even Professor Ross Garneau didn’t recognise it after the government and interested parties were finished with it.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Let’s hope we get a real ETS next time – or better still, a simpler and more effective mechanism such as a carbon tax. Anything has got to be better than the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme but at least his heart was in the right place when he started. I think the PM just forgot that those pesky big polluters have lots and lots of money to counteract anything he tries to come up with. Only the will of the people will keep him true to his word. I can feel election time in the air!
I must be a cynic to the core. I believe that there will be no true ETS put in place until we are literally choking on the air we breathe.
We have become a society that talks about what needs to be done, that action must be taken. Sadly, nothing is actually done until people start dying.
For those of us who are trying our best to live more greener and sustainable lives it is both frustrating and disheartening to watch the token efforts of our government.
The Govt had the choice of trying to get the ETS through the Senate with either Coalition support or Greens + Xenophon + Fielding. As Fielding is AFAICT a Liberal, the second option was impossible and that left the first. And that’s basically proved impossible too. Assuming Fielding is a one-term wonder, the next term should see a much better ETS. I hope.