Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about climate change and taxes. Ok, this is a recurring grumble, but it is particularly topical this week as Tony Abbott’s legislation to scrap the carbon tax is introduced in the Federal Parliament. This was a flagship policy of the election campaign and we were promised that it would reduce electricity prices and ease cost of living pressures – his Bill to reduce our bills.
Except that now key business leaders are saying that we won’t see any big price reductions. Where were these voices during the election campaign I wonder? And where was the reporting of the current wave of economists who think that putting a pricing carbon is more effective and efficient than the proposed direct action approach to reducing carbon pollution. And that is without even questioning the manifestly inadequate pollution reduction targets of both schemes.
But the hip pocket question remains: will our power bills come down if we are without a carbon strategy – sorry, I mean a carbon tax? I don’t know, but I do know that carbon prices were always only a small proportion of the massive recent hikes in energy prices. Adelaide’s electricity prices went up 18.2% in the quarter immediately following the introduction of the carbon price, but only about a quarter of this increase was down to the carbon tax and the general inflation rate increased by only 1.5%. For most households, and particularly for the poorest households, this increase was more than covered for by the government’s compensation package.
The good news is that even if the carbon tax is scrapped, we will keep the compensation package. It is currently worth about $7 a week for pensioners, less for some other income support recipients. It’s not much, but it seems only reasonable to keep it after last week’s announcement that the Federal government would give the richest households a huge bonus by dropping the proposed tax on superannuation earnings over $100,000 a year (ie. for those whose super-pot is a couple of million dollars). And they announced that at the same time as announcing the dumping of the rebate support for low income earners’ contribution to super.
Who knows, after that bit of robbing from the poor to give to the rich, maybe the government figured it owed the poor one.
Shame about the planet though!
I am Greg, I am grumbling.
This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast at https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles-15/
First Broadcast: 12 November 2013
Greg's Grumbles can be heard on Radio Adelaide during SACOSS' Small Change program - 6pm every Tuesday night. 101.5FM or online.
