Make of this what you want, but Tony Abbott (see Tony Abbort) fully supported a Carbon Tax. Until the Government tried to introduce it. And then he was in staunch opposition, as is his way.
Important watching – regardless of your political persuasion.
you said it... 
I believe this is the first time we have had an opposition leader trying to cause so much damage.
He is trying to wreck everything. The worse off you and your family are, the better for him. If you are doing it really tough, you are more likely to vote for him next time, so he will go out of his way to make your life hard till next election.
I hope people wake up to him….
I still remember him trying to publicly humiliate a dying Bernie Banton…
To loosely paraphrase some commentator, “Abbott is doing a fantastic job as an opposition leader. Let’s hope he stays in the job for a very long time”. The point is that he opposes every Labor policy, regardless of merit. He has his finger on the pulse of the electorate and an eye on the next election.
His weathervane stance on a carbon tax exemplifies this point. What I can’t fathom is why the public at large are buying his spin. Apart from ignorance and stupidity, I can’t offer many other plausible alternatives.
so what is Relationship between Carbon Tax and Rcism Discrinination ?? so is this website now pushing the Greens and Labor point of view , because two of the founders are both green and labor supporters , the general public does not support such a Tax regardless whether you support either of the 3 parties,
such a Tax wil only hurt the low income earners as they will be the one paying in the end not the , Big companies .
We posted that to highlight the backflip. We support the science, irrespective of its political origins. If you want a viable planet for your kids and grandkids you have to eliminate greenhouse emissions. The best way to do it is by pricing carbon. End of story.
Still don’t see the link between this and discrimination. I am all for the carbon tax, but it seems irrelevant in this forum, though I guess it is yours to do what you wish with.
Apologies. But this forum is all about re-publishing public comments made by stupid bogans. Abbott is one of them.
The general public have been confused and blinded by misinformation at the hands of Abbott. This has nothing to do with racism/discrimination, but our blog is an avenue for re-publishing bogans’ public comments.
Abbott has turned everyone off a concept that he staunchly supported, simply because he feels he has to oppose everything that the Government proposes in order to become the Government himself.
So mindmadup, firstly if Abbott a stupid Bogans, then what does that make Gillard ?? in regards to greenhouse emission its not the older generation that is to blame its you as the younger generation, lookback at the older generation they used to get drinks in glass bottle and return them, not in plastic, they used paper bags not plastic they didn’t have mobile phone or drive around in big V8 and the list gones on and yet they lived far better and healthier live style… so should we turn the clock back and return to some of those older generation idea
Yes would like to see a far clearer planet but you really are a fool if you think introducing a Carbon Tax in australia is going to change the world except raise the cost of living in australia you first need to see the like of china, india etc start to care and reduce greenhouse emission.
Every government in the world knows full well they need to address this issue and they fail too, but Labor and Greens really just want to look good on the world stage
Why are you assuming the bloggers here are all “the younger generation”?
Abbott is ridiculous because he is an educated man from a privileged background who appears not to support the science, and flip-flops from position to position.
my remark about the younger generation was referance to fact that older generation are not the one to blame as pointed out they used to use returnable container etc and not wish to drive around in v8 etc, its more the governments fault as they failed to look to the future, and thats regardless who is in office..yes wish I would be around to see my great great grand children be living in a cleaner world
barry f, speaking of countries doing nothing, you forgot to mention the US, the only country which didn’t ratify the Kyoto agreement and who helped scupper the Copenhagen Summit.
As for other countries not doing anything, that’s not the case. The UK recently pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2025 relative to 1990 levels. China intends to remove carbon emissions on a per GDP unit basis by 45% by 2020 relative to 2005 levels. They also lead the world in investment in renewables. The European Union implemented an ETS in 2005. So to believe Australia is ahead of the world is wrong.
Will Australia’s efforts change the world? Not on a carbon reduction basis. The point is, it’s a relatively light financial burden and it signals our intention to address Rudd’s ‘greatest moral challenge of our generation’. If you can’t see the moral problem by doing nothing, then you evidently don’t care about more extreme weather events, destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, displacement of millions of people, food shortages, etc.
The sooner people wake up and start thinking for themselves (and stop reading the Murdoch press), the better.
ignorant or
Morgone, yes i left out the U.S and it wasn’t by mistake and very much agree with you that the yanks sunk copenhagen summit and they are likely to continue to do so unless its in there interest to do otherwise.
YES the list of countries that you listed have pledged the question will they and lets look at the years the uk 2025 and china 2020.. so my question should we not be in step with these countries and not be jumping years ahead, its
fine to be saying Rudd greatest challage
but to what expense to the australian people, the cost of living will not be going up in those countries , big business will not shoulder the carbon tax… yes we need to change the way we think… its not moral issue for me as I already do everything in my power like putting in solar power and solar hot water and where possible use recyleable items etc, because i do care…
you also say at relatively light financial burden, since when has the government ever be truthful regardless of which party is in office.. did they not say when the GST came in that you would only be paying the GST once and yet you pay it more than once… as for the climate changes you listed yes I do care and in fact I’ve spend time in few of those countries that are already being effected.
barry f, I’m also cynical of politicians but the ALP has released the policy details, it’s been approved by the climate change community, costed by Treasury and is largely backed by economists. Abbott’s direct plan has not been costed by Treasury (I vaguely remember he declined Gillard’s offer), it’s been trashed by economists and criticised by Turnbull.
Predictably, Abbott’s response was to trash climate scientists (‘[climate change] is absolute crap’), the Treasury and economists (the people he’ll be depending on for advice if he wins office).
The whole point of this exercise is to ensure products and services fully reflect the price of carbon. As consumers move towards cheaper renewable alternatives, we will transition to lower energy-intensive industries. The upshot is that some industries will cut jobs (e.g. coal) and others will raise jobs (renewables like solar and wind). As for the cost to households, you’re right – the carbon tax will be passed on to consumers but households get compensated for this through the extra tax revenue.
If you agree that anthropogenic global warming is real then action needs to be taken. Given the alternative policies presented by our political parties I think the choice should be obvious. But it’s not. This debate has been muddied by Abbott’s ability to shift people’s attention from the broader issues facing humanity (the environment and unborn generations) to our selfish selves (job losses, electricity bills and the cost of milk).
You’re getting really good at missing the point aren’t you Barry?
i agree, i thought this was a website against racism. not a website to push certain political opinions.
This doesn’t make any suggestions to anyone’s political opinion, other than being anti-Abbott.
Had Gillard not made that silly statement about a Carbon Tax before the last election, Abbott wouldn’t have gained nearly as much traction with his revolting style of politics.
Of course, whenever someone uses the ‘but-but-JuLIAR!’ schtick on me, I gently ask them to cast their mind (such as it is) back to the 1996 Election, where a certain J. W. Howard claimed that a Coalition Government would not introduce a GST …
Gillard actually said that under a Labor Government there wouldn’t be a carbon tax. We don’t have a Labor Government – cast your minds back to exactly what happened at the last election…
Be that as it may, it is unfortunate that despite the fact that the current Government is a Labor-Greens-Independents coalition, the Great Unwashed associate Ms. Gillard as being a Labor PM.
(and thanks for the reminder, I now have a little more ammo to throw at the next person that derps ‘Ju-LIAR!’ at me! ;))
has this blog become a vehicle to push the political opinions of the creators. i am very much against racism in all it’s forms and i thought that was what this blog was about.
i am very much against a carbon tax. it is the most pathetic attempt at trying to make us believe the government is interested in global warming. there are plenty of other options to reduce carbon emmissions. it’s just another bullshit scheme to raise money by a government that has no idea how to control or monitor it’s spending.
Yes there are other alternatives. But the Greens shouted down an ETS because it didn’t go far enough and now the Government is dictated to by minor Independents (and staunch opposition from the Coalition) and has to try and go about pleasing everybody.
Also if this post was to show that Tony Abbott back flipped, Why have you not posted the ones of Julia Gillard saying that there was no way that her government would introduce a carbon tax. While you’re at it post the one where she said that Kevin Rudd would take the Labour party to the next election and that there was more chance she would play full forward for the Western Bulldogs. If you’re serious about posting the backflips by politicians surely you should post the lies told by the Prime Minister!
Julia Gillard said that a Labor Government would not introduce a carbon tax – but she doesn’t have a Labor Government. I’m sure you remember how the last election finished up.
And as for changes in leadership – let’s not forget how many heads rolled in the Liberal camp before Abbott…
They never toppled a serving Prime Minister, elected by the people. There is a huge difference between ousting the leader of the oppostion and the Prime Minister and if you want to go down that road the Labour Party went through how many leaders before they finally settled on Rudd. Only to stab him in the back. Knit picking about wether Julia Gillard controls a majority government does not change the fact that she is the Prime and her party is running the country therefore she blatantly lied about the introduction of a carbon tax. As for an ETS that is even dumber than a carbon tax and we’ve seen how it doesn’t work in other countries. It is just another vehicle to trade a commodity thus allowing rich people to become richer. If you want some positive ideas how about a few of these,
– drop all taxes on hybrid vehicles thus make making them a much more affordable option for the family car, as well as encouraging the Australian Industry to invest in clean car options.
– drop all the taxes on Australian made solar panels thus making it more affordable to change to solar energy and encourage Australian investment in production of clean energy options.
– limit the exportation of coal to the worlds biggest polluters such as china. They can’t expect us to make a significant difference while making money out those that are the biggest problem.
– reduce the investment in the National Broadband network and spend that money on establishing clean energy alternatives. Which is more important a slightly faster computer of the well being of our planet.
There are many, many alternatives to the Carbon Tax that encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint but unfortunately they do not make the government more money.
If the Carbon Tax is absolutely the only option and not about raising money then instead of giving back compensation for the effect of the carbon tax on families how about just dropping the GST by 2%, that would have the effect of reducing the cost to the people but still penalising the major polluters!