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Coalition begins 'carbon tax' assault on Labor climate policy – politics live
Coalition begins 'carbon tax' assault on Labor climate policy – politics live
(32 minutes later)
And it ends.
Main takeaways?
Labor’s policy is a carbon tax, even though it builds from a Malcolm Turnbull plan, and is not at all a carbon tax.
We are doing things, and they are great things.
Your face is.
Will the Coalition still use the Kyoto carryover credits if the United Nations determines they shouldn’t be used?
Melissa Price: “We believe we are entitled to use the carryover credits.”
Melissa Price is no longer talking. She is nodding like a trooper though.
Angus Taylor just had this exchange with the Sydney Morning Herald’s David Crowe:
Crowe: You call this a carbon tax, if this is a carbon tax is your safeguard mechanism a carbon tax also?
Taylor: It is a fundamental misunderstanding of what the safeguard mechanism was meant to do. The intention is to deal with heavy polluters. That has been the policy, it is working and we are committed to 22 and reviewing that.
Crowe: This policy deals with heavy polluters, how can you call it a tax when this is the number of companies being affected?
Taylor: The target is completely different, what drives the outcomes here is the target. When you have a 45% emission reduction target, you are demanding almost half, half the emissions go. And that is going to cost a lot, we see independent modelling telling us the impact of that, $9,000 a year for the average Australian worker, 360,000 jobs or more, assuming the carryover is used. If you set a target like this, that’s the outcome, they are using the safeguard as a Trojan horse for a carbon tax.
Shhhhhhhh
Be very, very quiet. The Melissa Price environment minister is speaking. We don’t want to startle her.
I’ve just come back from a whirlwind trip to Queensland (the greatest nation on earth) and I can tell you the Coalition are W-O-R-R-I-E-D. The big election story is in Victoria this year, at least at this stage, but in Queensland, the state that held in 2016, things are looking a bit wobbly. One of the seats on the bubble is Ross Vasta’s seat of Bonner.
Which makes this email blast from Australian Christian Lobby head Wendy Francis verrrrrrry interesting:
Dear ACL friends
I have worked with ACL now for 9 years and I am well placed to know the DNA of this organisation. We do not support one political party over another. That being said, I believe that the upcoming federal election is the most important in my lifetime and there are huge ramifications associated with the outcome. To educate voters I have been asking the following three questions of candidates and sitting members.
Abortion
What is your response to the news that the ALP will use federal funding to ensure free abortions are offered in public hospitals even to full term?
Freedom of belief
Do you believe that schools, Bible colleges, and religious institutions should be forced to employ people who fundamentally disagree with their beliefs?
Gender
Do you agree with States being required to remove gender from all documents such as birth certificates, drivers licenses, social security forms?
In your electorate of Bonner, your sitting member, Ross Vasta, has a voting record which aligns with Truth on all of these issues and many others.
He has asked me if there would be any of our supporters who would be prepared to support him by placing one of his signs in their yard. I pass this on for your consideration. If you would be happy to assist him with this request can you please contact his office at ross.vasta.mp@aph.gov.au I know he would be very grateful.
Please pray for our nation.
Kind regards, Wendy
*extreme David Attenborough voice*
It is a very rare sighting of the Melissa Price environment minister, in the open.
The Price environment minister usually press conferences on the run, if at all. We’re excited to see her not only standing still, but attempting to communicate.
This was just announced:
This was just announced:
Minister for the Environment, Melissa Price and Minister for Energy, Angus Taylor will hold a doorstop to discuss Labor’s economy wrecking climate announcement.”
Minister for the Environment, Melissa Price, and Minister for Energy, Angus Taylor, will hold a doorstop to discuss Labor’s economy wrecking climate announcement.”
I wonder what their take will be? The media alert is so ambiguous.
I wonder what their take will be? The media alert is so ambiguous.
Mike Bowers has been out and about this morning:
Mike Bowers has been out and about this morning:
Which reminds me – we have officially entered Australian politicians and would-be politicians looking at things season:
Which reminds me – we have officially entered Australian politicians and would-be politicians looking at things season:
It’s always the summer of 69 in some people’s hearts.
It’s always the summer of 69 in some people’s hearts.
It is a cast of thousands for Labor’s official climate announcement (which is being held at an electric vehicle charging station in Civic, in Canberra’s centre).
It is a cast of thousands for Labor’s official climate announcement (which is being held at an electric vehicle charging station in Civic, in Canberra’s centre).
Mark Butler, Anthony Albanese, Kim Carr, Pat Conroy and (candidate) Alicia Payne have joined Bill Shorten:
Mark Butler, Anthony Albanese, Kim Carr, Pat Conroy and (candidate) Alicia Payne have joined Bill Shorten:
First of all – what is the cost of not taking action on climate change? It is huge. It was estimated that last year $18bn is the cost of the extreme weather events we’ve been having in insurance, in property values, in damage, in lost production.
First of all – what is the cost of not taking action on climate change? It is huge. It was estimated that last year $18bn is the cost of the extreme weather events we’ve been having in insurance, in property values, in damage, in lost production.
There is a huge opportunity cost when we don’t take action. We’re confident by the sensible, evidence-based, pragmatic and consultative policies we’re putting forward, that we can protect traditional jobs in steel, in cement, in aluminium.
There is a huge opportunity cost when we don’t take action. We’re confident by the sensible, evidence-based, pragmatic and consultative policies we’re putting forward, that we can protect traditional jobs in steel, in cement, in aluminium.
Industries I’ve spent my working life representing blue-collar workers in. I’m confident that with our fund to work with emissions intensive trade sectors like that, we can make sure that the changes for them are done in a way which protects those jobs.
Industries I’ve spent my working life representing blue-collar workers in. I’m confident that with our fund to work with emissions intensive trade sectors like that, we can make sure that the changes for them are done in a way which protects those jobs.
But I’m ambitious for new jobs in Australia. I don’t want us just to be ... financial service vendors or casualised part time workers. I want us to have full-time jobs in renewable energy. We have the best scientists in the world, so why on earth aren’t we adding that to value-added manufacturing? We have some of the best resources of lithium in the world. We can put together ... in Australia, we have all of the parts for a lithium battery. So why can’t we be a nation that says we want to step up and have more manufacturing jobs?
But I’m ambitious for new jobs in Australia. I don’t want us just to be ... financial service vendors or casualised part time workers. I want us to have full-time jobs in renewable energy. We have the best scientists in the world, so why on earth aren’t we adding that to value-added manufacturing? We have some of the best resources of lithium in the world. We can put together ... in Australia, we have all of the parts for a lithium battery. So why can’t we be a nation that says we want to step up and have more manufacturing jobs?
In terms of electricity, we see that under this current government, even in the last three years since they got elected the second time around, the price has gone up 20%. I don’t know if it was you, Mark [Butler], or someone observed yesterday, who observed yesterday, that this $1.45 a week for pensioners, a one-off payment, a total of $75.
In terms of electricity, we see that under this current government, even in the last three years since they got elected the second time around, the price has gone up 20%. I don’t know if it was you, Mark [Butler], or someone observed yesterday, who observed yesterday, that this $1.45 a week for pensioners, a one-off payment, a total of $75.
It’s like a very small refund for their failure to do anything on energy policy in the last three years. I have no doubt that we will put downward pressure on energy prices.
It’s like a very small refund for their failure to do anything on energy policy in the last three years. I have no doubt that we will put downward pressure on energy prices.
You are going to hear a lot about Queensland’s land clearing laws in the next few weeks – because that is essentially what Labor is talking about when it says it’s an area it wants to tackle.
So, in a nutshell, what are they?
Well, in 2004, the then Labor Queensland state government passed laws which added a lot more bureaucracy for farmers who wanted to clear land. Basically, they had to get permission from the department before they could move forward. Landowners complained the process was too onerous and delayed, and they were unable to prepare for fire season and natural disasters.
So when Campbell Newman’s LNP government came in, they scrapped the laws and gave the landowners the power to make their own decisions (essentially).
And then land clearing went a bit nuts.
The rate of excessive tree clearing in Queensland has skyrocketed, reaching an alarming rate of 395,000 hectares in 2015-16, according to the annual deforestation report released today.
The 2015-16 Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) also showed the rate of tree-clearing in the Great Barrier Reef catchments had soared by almost 50 per cent since 2012-2013.
The Palaszczuk Labor government attempted to change the laws after winning the 2015 election, but without majority numbers, failed.
So they brought the laws back after the 2017 election when, with a majority, they passed (but not without a fight – the committee looking at the bill received 13,000 submissions, the most any Queensland government committee has ever received).
So land clearing in Queensland, in a lot of cases, needs oversight once again.
Farmers are still annoyed. Very annoyed. Environmental groups think the laws are better, but still have massive loopholes. So no one is completely satisfied. And as federal Labor looks to move forward with similar laws from a national standpoint, you’ll hear a lot more from all sides.
Senator Tim Storer has released a proposed integrity package in the last sitting week of parliament. Storer is up for re-election and although he came in on the Nick Xenophon/Centre Alliance ticket he has since gone independent, a tough path to re-election, meaning this week is likely to be his last.
I’ve done some poking around and while the proposal – which will come before the Senate in the form of a motion – has some support on the crossbench, there are a few planks that go too far for Labor. Those include the proposed overhaul of lobbyist rules, binding standards for parliamentarians expected to mirror the ministerial standards and a parliamentary integrity commissioner.
Here is the full proposal:
On Saturday the Morrison government announced strict new laws to crack down on social media companies which fail to remove violent content quickly enough. Creating criminal offences for failure to remove content would include penalties including fines and jail terms.
A spokesman for the attorney general, Christian Porter, told Guardian Australia the government would “certainly be introducing [it] this week with [a] view to having it dealt with in both houses”.
So it’s a top priority – just like the big rush to increase penalties for putting needles in strawberries.
Trouble is, Labor hasn’t seen the legislation yet (and nor have we, for that matter).
Labor is now warning this is a “ridiculous timetable”. The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus:
Labor is committed to holding the social media companies to account – they can, and they must do better. What happened following the Christchurch attack can never happen again.
Despite repeated requests, the government is yet to provide draft legislation regarding proposed social media regulation to the Opposition for scrutiny. If the government wishes to make this legislation law this sitting week, it will need to pass both the House and the Senate by end of day Wednesday. This ridiculous timetable is a direct result of the government being too frightened to hold an adequate number of parliamentary sitting days before the election.
Once the legislation is received, Labor will scrutinise it thoroughly and provide further comment.
There is no budget tree this year (even though winter has arrived ALREADY despite only just being April and if you think I am struggling dealing with it now, watch this little Queensland duck absolutely lose it in about six weeks’ time when she’s chipping ice off her windshield with her numberplate in the pitch dark) so our intrepid photographers and visual artists are having to find their own flame notes.
Mike Bowers found this one:
A Gang Gang (I think) tucks into berries on the trees at Parliament House #auspol @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus #parrotslive pic.twitter.com/40HhHKgg1Y
The Nationals have found another “big stick”.
Probably because the last big stick suffered from a little bit of deflation and ended up being less of a big stick and more of a modestly sized toothpick. (That was the threat to break up electricity companies.)
David Littleproud is not ready to let go of big sticks just yet though. So he has come up with this (from his statement) – warning, it includes an offer of flowers:
Labor’s new land-clearing laws are a big stick to bash farmers when they should be rewarded for the biodiversity on their properties, minister for agriculture David Littleproud said today.
Labor has announced it will extend Queensland-style land-clearing laws all over the country. The laws punish farmers for managing vegetation rather than rewarding them for the vegetation on their land.
Queensland farmers have staged huge protests, given they are having large parts of their properties made unproductive without any compensation or financial reward.
‘Labor needs to come clean on what carbon gain it has modelled from banning vegetation management nationwide,’ Minister Littleproud said.
‘If Labor is getting carbon gains from stopping farmers making money on part of their farms then it should pay compensation. Labor should not take something from our farmers for nothing. If farmers are doing the heavy lifting for Labor’s carbon target, they deserve to be paid.
‘Taking away part of a business’s assets and offering nothing in return is wrong. Labor has no right to declare farmers can’t use a big part of their farms without compensation.
‘Labor wants to bash farmers with a big stick but I want to give them a bouquet.’
There is just so much wrong with that line, I am honestly at a loss of where to start.
Sigh.
Someone spent a lot of time coming up with this line, and it probably got an uptick in their group chat, so here you go:
What we’ve got here is a re-Rudd of failed policy that cost jobs, that costs businesses, that will cost Australians at least $9,000 a year with the reckless targets that Bill Shorten will make law.
That’s another way Scott Morrison is leading this attack. “Re-Rudd”.
I know Bill Shorten is going to come up with equally ridiculous lines because that is how we do politics in Australia – but please, someone, for the love of Rhianna, just fire me into the sun already and get it over with.
Scott Morrison finishes his press conference with an attack on the Greens, which in this political climate is an attack on Labor:
Now, the Labor party have got to apply their own rule to their own decisions. If they want to have this rule, which says minor parties should be considered separate to the mainstream parties, well it seems that the Labor party doesn’t think the Greens have these extreme views.
They’ve got to apply the same ruler to themselves. We’ve made our decisions on this. The challenge is on Labor now. Are you for national security? Are you for the US alliance? Are you for border protection? Are you against death taxes? If that’s your view, if you’re for all of those things, then by all means put the Greens ahead of the Liberal party. But if you’re not, then you shouldn’t do that.
We now need to change the national anthem. We are no longer girt by sea, apparently, because – Labor.
Scott Morrison:
The only difference, when it comes to the National Energy Guarantee in terms of what Labor are proposing, is this: the reliability energy guarantee, which was part of the Neg we brought forward at the time, that’s now happening.
That’s the important part. The bit Labor are applying to that is legislating a 45% emissions reduction target. That’s what Labor are doing. They are going to legislate that. That’s not going to reduce power prices. Labor’s Neg actually put prices not down, because they are going to legislate a reckless target that will hit wages, that will hit jobs, that will hit production.
Let’s not forget what they’ve announced today is the extension, effectively, of the native veg laws in Queensland from Queensland Labor, which is basically going to land-lock the country and tell farmers and graziers and pastoralists around the country what they can do, or rather what they cannot do, on their own land.
This is a massive tax on agricultural Australia. It’s a massive tax on jobs. It’s $35 billion that Australian companies are going to have to spend, sending money offshore to foreign carbon traders, carbon credits for Kazakhstan. This is what this is for.
Say it with me now: a talking point does not make it true.
Scott Morrison on Labor’s climate policy:
Bill Shorten does not have a plan, he just has another tax. That’s all this is. Bill Shorten does not have a plan, he just has a tax.
And then there is this absolute pearl of wisdom:
“You make the point about electric vehicles. Well, the government is already taking a number of steps to support the growth in electric vehicles.
“I mean, if you buy an electric vehicle, one of the things you don’t pay is fuel excise. That is already a major advantage for those buying electric vehicles, a big significant leg-up.”
Could that be ... because they are electric?
Actually no, I need to correct that. This election campaign is going to be a very long century.
Scott Morrison:
“That’s why we’ll be handing down a budget surplus tomorrow night, the first in 12 years. It’s been about keeping expenditure under control and it’s been about supporting the growth in the Australian economy and getting Australians off welfare and into work.
It’s the classic 12-point turnaround. That works in AFL and NRL. You stop one team scoring down one end and you score on the other.
“People receiving welfare under our government are now paying tax because they have jobs. That’s how you balance a budget.
