Three of Australia’s senior economists have backed carbon pricing as the most effective way to reduce carbon emissions.
One, former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser, also said the Abbott government was working in the short-term interests of business and not the long-term interests of the public in its policies on climate change.
Mr Fraser, in an address to the National Press Club, expressed surprise at the ”brazenness and scale” of the campaign waged by the government and big business against the carbon and mining taxes.
The speech follows comments this week by former Treasury secretary Ken Henry and economist Ross Garnaut attacking the economic credentials of the government’s direct action policy.
A government spokesman said on Thursday that removal of the carbon price had ”broad support amongst the community” and argued its emission reductions fund would provide a stable ”framework for investment and growth while still reducing Australia’s emissions”. Mr Fraser, also a former Treasury secretary, said on Thursday that the debate over climate policy in Australia was now devoid of balance and maturity.
Mr Fraser, who is also the chairman of the Climate Change Authority, which the government plans to abolish, said Australia was at risk of being left behind other countries that were acting more quickly to reduce their emissions.
”While the government professes to accept the science of climate change the indications are that it is unlikely to back that acceptance with appropriate actions,” he said. ”It’s really lightening, rather than adding to the policy tool kit.” Mr Fraser said part of that tool kit was emissions trading.
”What has been made clear is that the scale of that effort … will be determined primarily by short-term budgetary considerations not by considerations related to climate science.”
He criticised the government’s ”ongoing campaign to demonise the carbon tax” and said that as long as business and government interests were aligned, the debate about climate change in Australia would remain ”lopsided for some time to come”.
Mr Fraser expressed frustration that many elements of the government’s direct action policy still had not been clarified and said the authority was not in a position to assess the potential costs as long as the details were unknown.
On Wednesday, Dr Henry backed comments by Professor Garnaut that the Abbott government’s direct action policy would cost closer to $4 billion or $5 billion, rather than the $1.5 billion the government has predicted.
”Ross has spent a long time looking at these issues. I wouldn’t question Ross on these issues,” Dr Henry said.
Dr Henry also questioned how committed the government would remain to emissions reduction targets over time. The Climate Change Authority has called for Australia’s emissions reduction target to be increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent by 2020.
