"We must recognise the virtual consensus in the global scientific community that global warming is real, and that carbon emissions by human beings contributes to this."

...aaand - bang! there we go off the rails. Do you know how your so-called consensus was obtained? By soliciting voluntary responses and then filtering out all but a tiny minority who happened to agree with the alarmists. Do you know that most geologists don't support the AGW hypothesis, and that over 5000 peer-reviewed papers opposing it have been published? See

http://petesplace-peter.blogspot.com/2008/04/peer-reviewed-articles-skeptical-of-man.html

for starters.

What we 'must' do is follow the evidence. Provide some genuine evidence first, and then we will see.

Another of game of follow the denialist's favourite blogs and shock-jocks.

Er, right ... no thanks.

Tristan,

You can be relied on to punt the Labor line without deviation.

Your complete lack of any economic qualifications enables you to believe in socialism and the merits of the carbon tax.

The carbon tax is "broadly revenue neutral" just as Madonna is broadly still a virgin, and Juliar Gillard is broadly honest.

I get the impression that our exported resources are more a restriction to our economy rather than a benefit, the reciprocal imports are destroying our own manufacturing industries and the coal seam gas exports, destroying much of the underground water that is needed by many farmers and grazers. The reciprocal imports of all the goods our factories had been manufacturing, do not bode well for those factories. The low price asked for our coal and other resources, does not correspond with the value of the products which are manufactured from them. We would be better off with manufacturing our own trains, Cars and trucks, and all those articles that our importers are bringing into the country destroying our own work. I admit I do not have a view of any respect of any political party, and am hoping for a party coming into the government with views and actions that I can respect. There are too many other cases of natural warming to contend that human action is creating enough to blaim ourselves for this buildup. The coal and other resources exports could be stopped with additional benefit to our fight against global warming.

The Gillard Govt and their feeble Astrogarnaut advisors havn't a clue about alternative baseload energy options.

Any carbon tax should have been already underwritten by huge and successful investments and implementations of GEOTHERMAL and even Nuclear power stations. There is nothing ... nothing!

To assume these new baseload technologies will self create is nonsense. You have to work the science. And you must pay for that.

What I am seeing (and smelling) is that people are reverting to wood fires and even coal for heating. The winter air stinks from Sydney to the Blue mnts and ovber the ranges. And if you wipe your TV screen with a white cloth you will see a shiny grey residue of dust that is a new penomenon related to the very unhealthy use of biofuels and other fuel adulterates especially in big trucks.

What will happen as carbon is taxed is that corporations and homes will offload their energy bills onto unclean, unregulated power sources like coal and wood and poisonous/cheap liquid fuels. There is no way the government can stop this black market and it is going to make the carbon tax a flop along with huge increases in hospital admissions, subsequent health costs and most likely many deaths. The most vulnerable will as always be the very young and the elderly. Those who don't pay tax! So inevitably the Labor/Liberal Governments has nothing to lose politically in continuing to use the carbon tax as a revenue and let Australians poison this nations' airsheds in a way that escapes international condemnation.

Why? because they have NO realistic framework or answers to future energy options and they NEVER will while they continue to worship at the altar of a GFCII, sad, declining greenback $US dollar bill.

The entire immigration based Australian state and federal Westminster-government system is a DINOSAUR waiting for its imminent Chifleysaurus extinction.

The author is at least right on one point, that once a carbon tax is in place people will forget that its there - mostly. But they will blame it for the big electricity bills they have to pay every quarter, whether that blame is justified or not.

My main objection has always been why are we doing this? In attempting to justify this policy, activists often try to claim that China and India have carbon taxes. China has proposed one, but there is major doubt about whether it would have any effect given the government has trouble enforcing existing tax laws. India has a tiny per-tonne tax on coal (called a carbon tax). The US state schemes are all limited and far from stringent. The European scheme has a major design flaw in allowed polluters to buy overseas credits..

In other words there is no concerted international action to reduce carbon, nor is there likely to be. In the absence of such a regime, our carbon tax is completely pointless, at least from the point of view of actually making a difference.