Tony Abbott… Not my PM #3 – Repeal the Carbon Tax

This is a new mini-series which will articulate the areas/reasons why I believe Tony Abbott is destroying Australia and is thus an unsuitable Prime Minister:

1. Federal budget 2014
2. Stop the Boats
3. Repeal the Carbon Tax (this article)
4. Higher Education Private Sector Unleashed
5. International Diplomacy Fail

Tony Abbott repeatedly insisted that the Carbon trading scheme was a tax on the economy of Australia. This very notion demonstrates how flawed his understanding of the scheme. The shame and irony of his successful win in recently having the Senate repealing the carbon tax is that he pursued this agenda dogmatically over the years whilst the international community is moving forward.

The Labor Party pursued a carbon emissions trading scheme policy which ultimately cost them two Prime Ministers in the process, largely at the hands of Tony Abbott’s opposition to both the policy and the way he repeatedly attacked it. It is only now, as Tony Abbott slowly but surely unwinds a lot of the policy achievements of the previous government that we now realise just how much legislative change was accomplished by the previous Gillard minority government. Julia Gillard did give Tony Abbott the ammunition but incorrectly conceding that the trading scheme was like a tax. Ever since, it is all we have ever heard from the Liberal party. The environmental policy that Australia briefly experienced for a barely a year not only embroiled and cost the leadership within the Labor party, but also moderate Malcolm Turnbull as Opposition Leader / Liberal Party leader.

Tony Abbott’s position on climate change has been well known from his earlier statements like “climate change is crap” and the like. His scepticism and bias on the issue greatly clouds his judgement on the matter to the extent that he readily dismisses academic research and embraces here-say instead. His ignorance and blatant disregard for the environment is clear in the actions he now pursues as Prime Minister. Did you know that for the first time in 70+ years, Australia no longer as a Federal Minister for Science? As part of this crazy obsession against the science and academic world, the Abbott government dismantles numerous research bodies under the guise of trimming the bloated nature of the Government. The only glimmer of hope was offered in early to mid 2014 when the Senate overturned parts of the repeal legislation to retain the Climate Change Authority (CCA). The Department of Environment under Minister Greg Hunt has become somewhat of an enigma, unable to truly perform its proper duty to all Australians by the politics played ultimately by Tony Abbott. Working for the CCA must truly be a bleak and disheartening situation nowadays.

However, what is just as troubling is that the Abbott Government’s policy and alternate solution is Direct Action, which remains faulty and flawed as ever. Even when opportunities have arisen internationally for the government to send representatives to learn about the effects of a Direct Action/market-driven policy (Mexico – Partnership for Market Readiness) was dismissed and ignored. Somehow, the Federal Government has found itself comatose, in denial, and ultimately ill equipped to dealing with the real world issue of climate change. With a leader like Tony Abbott, climate change deniers are having a field day whilst the world marches on. Under the Rudd/Gillard governments, Australia was a forerunner and demonstrating leadership on the issue, whereas under Abbott, we have now gone backwards and become a pariah of a state.

Tony Abbott claimed repeatedly throughout 2013-14 that the Carbon Tax was costing households $550 a year, in that the repeal would deliver an equivalent savings. This statistic was found by the ABC’s FactCheck to be grossly overstated. Another crazy notion that FactCheck shows is far from true is Tony Abbott’s assertion that other nations are winding back their respective emissions trading schemes. Instead, the truth of the matter is the very opposite – nations are increasingly committing to new carbon trading schemes, including the major nations like China and the US. With the repeal of the carbon tax, Australia is currently in limbo without a means to address the need to control and reduce our carbon emissions.