The climate lobby has struck back at ”the campaign of misinformation” being used against the carbon tax, while the war of words between the federal government and the business community has escalated.
And the government has delayed a key climate change election promise for a year, claiming it needs to further consult industry to get the policy right. The Assistant Treasurer, Bill Shorten, announced late yesterday the $1 billion tax breaks for the green buildings policy would be delayed for a year.
The policy offers a one-off 50 per cent tax break to building owners who do major work to lift a building’s energy rating from two stars to four or above. ”During initial consultations, some sectors of the industry were concerned about how the scheme would operate,” Mr. Shorten said.
However, the deferral will also help the government meet its target to achieve a budget surplus in 2012-13.
The chief executive of the Energy Efficiency Council, Rob Murray-Leach, said the government now needed to fill the one-year gap it has created with other policies or risk losing jobs in the energy-efficiency sector.
With the carbon tax debate reaching fever pitch, the Climate Institute will today release its own research that shows a $25 carbon price will add about $3.86 a week to the average Sydney household’s energy bill in 2012-13. ”This is slightly higher than the amount estimated by Treasury but a third less than suggested by the Coalition and some business groups,” the institute’s chief executive, John Connor, said. This impost would be reduced to $2.45 a week due to other energy efficiency policies. ”This is about the cost of a sausage sandwich.”
By comparison, rising electricity network costs, which have nothing to do with a carbon price and will happen regardless, will add $7.88 a week to the same power bills.
The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, accused vested interests of ”hysterical scaremongering” yesterday while the war of words between the Prime Minster, Julia Gillard, and the Business Council of Australia, continued apace.
On Sunday, the council’s chief executive, Graham Bradley, wrote to Ms Gillard saying her policy would hurt business and industry and have no meaningful impact on global emissions.
Ms Gillard shot back, pointing out the Coalition shared the same target of reducing emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 and asking whether he supported that target or just the means of getting there. The government is proposing a market-based mechanism whereas the Coalition will take money from the budget and pay polluters billions to cut down emissions.
Mr. Bradley said yesterday that the BCA acknowledged the target, believed in a market-based mechanism but will only support policies where the ”environmental benefit is clear” and ”the competitiveness of Australia’s exporters is not diminished”.
The Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, also attacked union claims that the South Australian industrial cities of Whyalla and Port Pirie would disappear because of the carbon tax.
