Sorry Spindoc.....you always do a better job:) Iam but a poor humble servant. Yawn..Could someone please change the record:)

LEA

"..... it’s the same old proselytizing. Faith, ideology, dogma and self imposed ignorance"

Interesting words from spindoc but they apply to comments from spindoc, Hasbeen and Atman rather than the writer of the article. The concern over man made climate change is based on massive amounts of research, evidence and facts, not faith or ideology. "Since 2007, when the American Association of Petroleum Geologists released a revised statement,no scientific body of national or international standing rejects the findings of human-induced effects on climate change." For details check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change

"Giving compensation to pensioners and the low paid defeats the purpose of the whole exercise and does nothing to reduce CO2 emissions."

David - I disagree. As your electricity bill goes up and the Government gives you say $500 as compensation you are free to spend the $500 how you wish. Why not turn off unused lights and applicances and pocket as much of the $500 compensation as you can to spend on something else?

However the carbon tax will work primarily because of its impact on the behaviours of the polluters who are paying it directly. If a power generator can spend $100,000 on an efficiency project to reduce emissions by 5,000 tons then that is an abatement cost of $20 per ton. With a carbon tax of $25 per ton then the company has just saved $25,000.

The carbon tax has therefore made a project to reduce carbon emissions worthwhile. As the carbon tax increases and the cost of renewable energy falls the power generator will find there is a financial return to be made in closing down coal fired and carbon emitting power generation, and replacing it with solar powered carbon free electricity generation with zero carbon tax payable. Grid parity is expected by many to be sometime from 2017 to 2020 - not far away. When that point is reached why would anyone invest in coal fired power generation?

Quantum, Rich, "hide the decline". Explain that one, then we might listen.

Hasbeen,

What do you mean?

Compared to coal, solar and wind are very expensive. A carbon tax is designed to make coal artifically as expensive as a solar so there is no incentive to invest in coal. Its bad economics, has dubious scientific merit and according to many experts, won't have much of an effect on overall CO2 levels for a long time.

Carbon tax is about economic equity and wealth transfer as dictated by the UN not 'pollution' which is why many developing countries are let off the hook with their emission targets. Their CO2 apparently is less offensive to the environment than Western CO2.

Sophie,

some points need correcting.

Firstly it is not maths but arithmatic you and the other economists are doing. With your inaccuracy yoy cheapen not only the efforts of our many qualified mathematicians but also the great western tradition of mathematics. It's a large part of the basis of western civilisation and not just in it's influence over it's growth and development. It's a much more precise science than many of the pseudo sciences around today. It has a greater attachment to our past than what is taught in our universities today as Law/Arts and other humanities.

I'd gladly pit the intellect of Mathematics graduates against the intellect of Law/Arts graduates and indeed against the intellect of economists and graduates of many of the pseudo sciences of today.

Secondly, this really does need challenging.

'the Opposition's bad habit of just being plain old wrong when it comes to climate change.'

The Oppositions policy position on climate change is exactly the same as Gillards policy on climate change. So logic dictates if you think the opposition's wrong then you must also think so is the government. Unless of course you can use the same logic as Gillard that allows no to mean yes.

Where the opposition and the government differ is in how to deal with carbon dioxide emissions.

Why aren't you more precise? Is precision beyond you Law/Arts graduates?

Now finally can you tell me why in the depths of global warming how Australia, last Thursday, had it's coldest day since 1916?

Can you tell me why in the depths of global warming we are experiencing the earliest winter snows since 1986?

Can you tell me why in the depths of global warming the northern hemisphere experienced dreadful cold and extremely heavy blizzards this year?

Can you tell me why the time period available to complete a NorthWest Passage is sadly again shrinking?

Can you tell me why the oceans haven't risen, islands haven't sunk and why many coastal properties in Australia are still rising in price? (Including the one bought recently by the Rudds.)

thanks