This post is disingenuous. It's a disgrace the Labor shadow Minister would write such distorted and misleading information 0 and especially given he is an economist.

The Labor-Greens carbon tax and ETS, if allowed to continue as legislated to 2050, would reduce Australia's GDP by $1,345 billion in total (2011 AUD, not discounted). There would be no benefits for that enormous waste unless the world participates and the Labor Green scheme is integrated in the global scheme. But the global scheme will not happen. It is naive in the extreme to believe the world will embrace such a scheme that would have so many losers. There is virtually no chance of it happening. So, no benefits would be delivered for the cost of setting back our economy by $1,345 billion (for background see Submission 2 to the Senate Committee hearing into repeal of the carbon tax legislation: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Clean_Energy_Legislation/Submissions).

Furthermore, 2 'real' jobs (i.e. unsubsidised jobs) are lost for every 'Green' job created by the subsidies and market distortions caused by the Labor-Green carbon restraint polices.

It's a disgrace that Labor politicians, especially those in the shadow ministry and who we should be able to trust given he was previously an academic economist and lecturer at ANU, should be writing such disingenuous and irresponsible articles.

Labor should be working for the good of the country, not for their own political advantage.

has Sydney run out of water yet? Give it away Leigh. You are flogging a dead horse or better still dead religion. By all means make donations to Flannery's new scare organisation but stop trying to suck the public purse for such nonsense. Enough tax payey money has lined the pockets of scaremongers and ideologist. Give to the poor by all means but stop expecting tax payers to fund this stupid religion.

As the sea level rises and all those expensive houses on the foreshore start to go under, as the fresh drinking water is unobtainable unless you pay a fortune for de-sal water,
as the food prices get so high that you cannot feed yourself and the kids,
as the storm damage to your Mac- castle mounts up and the insurance says "no way no pay", as the price of everything including health care gets too expensive to pay, think of all those rich buggers on a salary of millions who are off to their gated community in New Zealand and wonder if you did the right thing.
Is the economy really better than the environment?

Peter, you are right. The author should be prosecuted for misleading and deceptive conduct for writing this article.

Andrew is right of course.

How on earth is a decent Muslim Jihadists going to cover his costs of going to the middle east, if we won't give him, & his families, [yes families, he's probably got a few], the disability pension.

Don't you horrible old fashioned Ozzies realise how expensive it is firing all that led in the air, & about the place?

Opps, I didn't notice you'd got climate change in there too. Sorry Andrew, that blows it. You are only allowed one con job at a time. Go & stand in the corner for 10 minutes, then come back with just one bit of bull dust.

Let me see so generating power without generating pollution, and with a zero fuel cost is going to mean the end of civilization? Beam me up Scotty There s no intelligent life down here.