51. Carbon Tax

Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about the carbon tax – not yet rested in peace.

Now the politics of the carbon tax have always been odd. The political left that usually advocates regulation to fix market failures supports a market mechanism like carbon pricing to change behaviours and provide economic incentives to address climate change.

Conversely, the usually free-market right opposes the market mechanism of a price or tax on carbon and either prefers the otherwise hated government intervention of “direct action” – or simply thinks that all the science about climate change is wrong (while presumably all other science is right – although with budget cuts to the CSIRO, I could be wrong on that one).

But it appears there is more to carbon tax politics. Late last year Clive Palmer and Nick Xenophon seemed to be keeping a door open to an emissions trading scheme – which was where the carbon tax they voted out was supposed to lead us.

And then Tony Abbott weighed in with his now infamous answer as to what, as Minister responsible for the status of women, he has done for Australian women. What has he done for women – well he abolished the carbon tax.

Apparently it is a panacea for many ills, but on hearing this I was reminded of the famous Monty Python scene in the Life of Brian when the Jewish nationalists – who would no doubt now be called a terrorist organisation and we would be giving up our civil liberties to defeat them – were considering what the Romans had done for them. But unlike aqueducts, sanitation, roads, medicine, education, and law and order, the answer in modern Australia is simpler.

What has the government done for women: it abolished the carbon tax.

What’s it done for the economy: it abolished the carbon tax.

What’s it done to secure a sustainable revenue base for government: it abolished the carbon tax. Oops – own goal.

What has the government done for world peace: well, it abolished the carbon tax (and stopped the boats).

And what has the government done for vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians? Bugger the carbon tax - on the eve of Christmas, the government cut millions out of community support programs and gave us Scott Morrison as Minister!

Yeah, I am Greg and I am grumbling.

This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 20 January 2015