Australian Labor’s Carbon Price will INCREASE greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution

Australia is a world leader in annual per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution (71 times greater than that of Bangladesh), coal exports (world number 1) and liquid natural gas (LNG) exports. The Liberal Party-National Party Coalition Opposition (the Libs) and the Labor Party Government (the Labs) (collectively known as the Lib-Labs) both have a policy of “5% off 2000 Domestic GHG pollution by 2020” coupled with unrestrained coal and LNG exports.

The Libs have a climate change action policy called Direct Action involving Government support for cleaner energy, re-afforestation and biochar. This policy can be criticized for being too little too late. Thus In 2009 the German Advisory Council on Climate Change (WBGU) determined that for a 75% chance of avoiding a 2 degree C temperature rise, the World must pollute less than 600 Gt CO2 between 2010 and essentially zero emissions in 2050. Unfortunately Australia has already used up its “fair share” of this terminal greenhouse gas (GHG) budget (see “Shocking analysis by country of years left to zero emissions”, Green Blog, 1 August 2011: http://www.green-blog.org/2011/08/0... ).

In contrast, the Labs have a disastrous Carbon Tax-ETS-Ignore Agriculture (CTETSIA) policy that entrenches climate change inaction while dishonestly pretending to do otherwise. Labor’s plan fails because it:

(1) promotes a coal to gas transition (that will in actuality mean a doubling of power sector GHG pollution because methane, 85% of natural gas, leaks (at 3.3% in the US) and is 105 times worse than CO2 as a GHG on a 20 year time frame and with aerosol impacts included);

(2) will scupper science-demanded 100% renewable energy by 2020;

(3) will install an emissions trading scheme (ETS) that is empirically ineffective, disastrously counterproductive and inherently fraudulent (the Australian Government will sell licences to pollute the one common atmosphere of all countries on earth);

(4) ignores agriculture (while livestock production alone is responsible for over 51% of GHG pollution, according to World Bank experts: http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf... ); and

(5), as described in detail below, fails to decrease Australia’s 2020 Domestic GHG pollution relative to that in 2000 (according to official Treasury analysis).

Australia has a multi-state Federal system. The Melbourne newspaper The Age On-line National Times section published an article by Josh Gordon (Victorian state political reporter) about Victorian Coalition Premier Ted Baillieu’s opposition to the Carbon Tax and entitled “Baillieu’s carbon paper looks on both sides now” (see: [http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/baillieus-carbon-paper-looks-on-both-sides-now-20110818-1j06c.html] ).

Key quote: “The Premier must have been getting sore trying to sit on the fence over climate change, because he has now jumped headlong into the anti-carbon tax camp. In advance of today’s Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra, Ted Baillieu produced ’’new economic modelling’’ showing the federal carbon tax would cost more than 24,000 jobs and wipe $2.8 billion from the state economy in 2015. “

The Age kindly published my following comment on the article uncensored:

Start comment. “Labor’s discriminatory and ineffective Carbon Tax-ETS proposal involves a futile cycle of taxation of some corporate polluters, increased costs to consumers and use of most of the carbon tax receipts to help consumers pay for such increased costs.

However the further futility of the scheme is that it won’t work. Thus tackling climate change means that greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution should DECREASE, yet according to Treasury and other analysis Australia’s Domestic and Exported GHG pollution will INCREASE over the 2000 level under the Carbon Price scheme.

Treasury, ABARE and US EIA data show the following Australian Domestic and Exported GHG pollution (in millions of tonnes of CO2-equivalent) for Australia under the Carbon Price (for documented details simply Google "dirty gas threat"):

2000: 496 (Domestic) + 505 (coal exports) + 17 (LNG exports) = 1,018.

2009: 600 (Domestic) + 784 (coal exports) + 31 (LNG exports) = 1,415.

2020: 621 (Domestic) + 1,039 (black coal exports) + 80 (LNG exports) + 59 (brown coal exports) = 1,799.

2050: 527 (Domestic) + 2902 (coal exports) + 1,061 (LNG exports) = 4,490.

More means less?” End Comment.

Gillard Labor’s pre-election promise was “no carbon tax” and its current promise is “5% off 2000 GHG pollution by 2020”. Tackling climate change means that GHG (greenhouse gas) pollution should DECREASE, yet according to Treasury and other analysis Australia’s Domestic and Exported GHG pollution will INCREASE over the 2000 level under the Carbon Price scheme.

An Orwellian Gillard Labor Australian Government is effectively saying:

(1) that “No means yes” (a pre-election promise of no carbon tax becomes having a carbon tax post-election);

(2) that “More means less” (“5% of 2000 Domestic GHG pollution = 0.95 x 496 Mt CO2-e = 471 Mt CO2-e , whereas the Australian Treasury says Labor’s plan will yield 621 Mt CO2-e by 2020 i.e. 25% MORE than the 2000 value rather than the promised 5% less) ; and

(3) that “it is tackling climate change” when it is increasing GHG pollution (under the Australian Labor Government’s Carbon Price plan Australia’s Domestic plus Exported GHG pollution in 2020 will be 1.8 times that in 2000 and its Domestic plus exported GHG pollution in 2050 will be 4.4 times that in 2000) (see “Gulf oil & gas disaster, fracking, media censorship & dirty gas threat to World”, Bellaciao, 16 August 2011: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?ar... ).

Orwellian, spin-driven Labor has utterly betrayed truth, pro-environment Labor voters and the Planet. One would like to hope that properly informed pro-environment Australians will vote 1 Green and put Labor last. Unfortunately Mainstream media lying by omission and commission in Lobbyocracy and Murdochcracy Australia will ensure that most Australians are kept well protected from the Awful Truth.