Yesterday, also known as ‘Carbon Sunday’, was the first day of the Gillard Government’s price on pollution. If you still don’t understand what the whole thing is really about, we’ve put together an excellent cheat sheet for you – you can read it here.
The pollies have reacted for and against the tax; some strongly in support, some very much against. Take a look at some of the things that were happening yesterday:
More from The Daily Telegraph:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard threw Tony Abbott’s claim that she broke an election promise back at him by predicting he would not make good on his vow to scrap it if he won the next election.
Ms Gillard said business investments being made now would make it too difficult for a future Coalition prime minister to unwind the tax, saying any change would be limited to “a fiddle or a fudge”.
“Businesses have got themselves ready for carbon pricing,” she told Insiders on ABC TV.
Mr Abbott hit back, insisting that getting rid of the carbon tax would be his priority if he became prime minister.
“If you elect a Coalition government, there will be no carbon tax and I can be believed when I say there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead,” he said.
As for whether families are feeling the difference:
Australia’s peak industry group said more than 42 per cent of businesses put up prices from Sunday, when the tax came into effect.
“Most businesses have said to us they have to put their prices up simply because they can’t afford to absorb the costs,” Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said last night.
The carbon tax will add an average $9.90 to household bills. The average compensation will be $10.10 and six million out of the nine million Australian households will be fully compensated.
The view from the other side is that carbon change is a hoax and that Australian democracy has died. This from the Sydney Morning Herald:
About 2000 people marched from Hyde Park to Belmore Park to hear Bronwyn Bishop speak against the government’s Clean Energy Bill, while a much smaller group in Melbourne heard the broadcaster Alan Jones refer to climate change science as ”propaganda”.
”The notion of global warming is a hoax,” Jones told a group of about 150 people on the steps of the Victorian Parliament. ”This is witchcraft. Commonsense will tell you it’s rubbish; 97 per cent of all carbon dioxide occurs naturally … 3 per cent around the world is created by human beings.”
What do you think of the carbon tax? Are you in favour of the Gillard Government’s scheme or would you have preferred a different course of action? Are you concerned about how your household will be effected by the tax? Do you think the compensation package is sufficient?
Top Comments
By making everything more expensive in the middle of a vast recession, by lying through her teeth to the Australian people - and yes it was a lie, no question, she would not have been elected if she had not stated clearly "There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead" and by continuing to ignore the fact that the tax is deeply unpopular, Gillard has signed the death warrant for Labor at the next election. I will not vote for the virgin-loving Catholic, but nor can I reward such a blatant, vile lie with a vote. I have actually heard people say "All politicians lie", as though that were some sort of excuse. I have heard selfish, heartless people say they don't care how much those who have worked hard all their lives to pay their bills, the backbone of Australia, are struggling.
Everyone knows this tax has nothing to do with the environment, even the ones towing the party line. The time and money Ms Gillard has wasted on forcing her lie on an unwilling nation could have been spent on setting up windfarms, solar energy, so many avenues we could have gone down. Instead, we have a tax which we were promised we would not have, which will not cut emissions but harms every working Australian. It's a real shame. I predict that if Labor insists on keeping Gillard and the CT nonsense, Abbott will win in a landslide and have a mandate to do anything he pleases. The only hope Labor has is to get rid of this woman and repeal the CT before it's too late. I will put neither of the above on my ballot at the next election if these two muppets are our only choice - but a nation of justifiably angry voters will vote for Abbott. Gillard plus the Carbon Tax is political suicide.
I'm ecstatic, Julia has persisted with the carbon tax. She's just about signed her own pink slip. Bye, bye Ms. Gillard. :-)