I would add another point to Ludwig's well argued case.
We need to cut our dependence on oil for energy/transport as we approach peak oil, because we need oil to make plastic.
Finding an alterative to fuel oil is reasonably doable and we need to do it asap.
Finding an alternative to plastic any time soon is a much more difficult problem.
And if we look around and imagine a world without plastic, well, we would be without a vast number of things we take for granted today.
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

Rechtub,
Here's where your analogy breaks down.
If you bought land, you would own the gravel.

Anton, if that's your comeback, let's say I lease the land, from the government.

....Maybe, we should nationalise all mines in Australia, and have the Australian government pay competent mining managers to run the mines on behalf of all Australians.

Now you are dreaming.

They couldn't even organize a scheme to put insulation into houses, whereby they were simply the administrators.

Yea, pull the other one.

The fact of the matter that around 60% of the people don't support the carbon tax, yet this government, fearing another back flip, is pushing on regardless.

The timing is simply wrong.

I think even they know it, but can't bring themselves to admit it.

Of cause they will wake up come July 2 and tell us that the world didn't cave in after all.

Of cause it won't, but, the cost of this tax will take some time to surface as nobody knows just what the impact is going to be.

Yet another example of the uncertainty this government has created for the business community.

See you lot think that if a business is hit with an increase,it will simply pass it on.

Business does not work that way.

Say your total costs are $1 mill and the tax adds ten thousand.

That's a 10% increase.

So in order to keep your profit margins balanced, you have to increase your price by 10%.

So the ten thousand that went in is charged at more like eleven thousand.

Now multiply this by billions, and there's your impact.

You see this government expects businesses to wear this tax as a cost recovery basis, but business dent work that way.

There's your hole in the governments policy.

Like it or not, this tax will hurt.

<< WA collected $4.9 billion in royalties last year >>

Peter Mac, could you possibly put this into context by telling us how much mining companies made in WA last year?

Do you know what the total mineral wealth generated there last year was, so that we can get an idea of just what percentage is actually being returned to the WA people. Or I should say; the Australian people, as it should be evenly distributed across the country and certainly not hogged in WA.

By royalties, do you mean all government charges including taxes?

Is this $4.9 billion figure the WA government’s winnings or those of the state and federal government or just the feds or does it include royalties to indigenous groups and perhaps other non-government bodies?

Could you possibly tell me what percentage of WA's or Australia's income this is?

Thanks.

<< The timing is simply wrong. >>

Rehctub, when would it be the right time to introduce a carbon tax or ETS or whatever it takes to really get the ball rolling away from oil?

Isn’t it simply a matter of the longer we leave it, the more urgently we’ll need to do it, and at a bigger scale which will have a bigger impact on businesses?

Miners don't have any trouble finding investment money, 500 billion worth of it.
The mrrt is well and truly justified, and worked out with the aid of miners.
Nationalization of all mines is an option. Gina has enough money.
Screw the miners, they are rapists.

Here's another reason why we should pursue a low carbon future and why creating an environment where investment in alternative energy technologies is important.
I hear often how Australia has hundreds of years worth of coal and how our economy depends on it.
But demand and price for a product aren't set by the producer; it's set by the market.
To look at just one competitor, in 2010 the cost of photovoltaic cells fell by around 30%.
In 2011, the cost fell by another 40%.
If we put all our eggs in the coal basket and alternative clean cheap technologies continue to reduce in price as they are, then within a few years, we'll have heaps of coal but no customers.
Remember the lesson of the buggy whip industry at the end of the Nineteenth Century.
Look at Borders and ebooks in the Twenty First Century.
New technologies can grab market share faster than we often think.
I would argue that it's a risk no responsible government can take.
Also, it's a reason to ensure that Australians get their fair share of the wealth being generated by coal while it's still worth something.
All of which is a good reason to ignore the Rechtubs of this world.
I suspect that he's not all that wealthy, yet he seems willing to fight tooth and nail to protect those like rinehart and palmer who are immensely wealthy who are doing all they can to screw Australians out of taxes they should be paying and jobs they should be providing.
And if rinehart had her way she would destroy part of our land with a nuclear bomb just so she could get richer quicker.
Go figure!
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au