Labor's "ETS" is actually nothing of the sort.

An ETS is meant to put a cap on emissions, and business trade permits. This grotesque version in reality means that businesses can buy endless credits from shonky foreign dealers at a price set by EU bureaucrats, with the money going not into tax revenue or emission reductions at home.

What Kevin has admitted is that the carbon tax is hurting Australian jobs and raising the cost of living. Kevin's answer is to change the name and reduce the price.

SM, before entering any discussion do you concur with the meaning of ETS at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading_scheme ?

Furthermore, let's assume that carbon abatement is a necessary thing and that there are 3 approaches on the table, "Direct Action" which is yet to be costed and budgeted, carbon pricing, and an ETS.

Firstly, are you saying carbon pricing is preferable to an ETS? Why?

Secondly, you would undoubtedly say "Direct Action", is the best approach. Why?

Please answer both questions, if you would

Yours truly,
Dorothy Dix

Kev the shonky builder appears to believe that if he makes enough noise and runs around excitedly rearranging the furniture
perspective buyers will overlook the termites in the floor, the mold on the walls and botched job he made of the ceiling --don't buy it!

Kev the Builder
Can he fix it
Kev the Builder
thinks, he can

Kev the Builder
Do we hire him
Kev the Builder
NOT A-GAIN!

Despite the rhetoric of the Coalition -
the Prime Minister's move to a floating carbon tax is
not an admission of failure. He's bringing forward by
12 months something Labor always intended to do -
move to an Emissions Trading Scheme.

This has now been done as a clever political move
to garner votes prior to the election. The news channels
and social media has gone viral reporting the news.
And it appears to be working in the PM's favour much
to the alarm of the Coalition.

That's why the quibbling now.

Ah, politics - the art of perceptions.

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/abbott-now-playing-away-20130716-2q2nv.html

Dorothy,

I am perfectly aware of what an ETS (or cap and trade) is, I am also aware of how far from the definition of an ETS Labor's floating carbon tax is.

As the supply of carbon credits is very large with comparison to the Aus market, the availability of "credits" is not limited, so there is no incentive to trade between companies in Aus. So if there is no cap and no trade, there is no ETS, and a huge outflow of cash to shonky carbon traders, starting at several billion p.a.

Essentially we will move from a price fixed in Aus to a price fixed in the EU.

I have a serious problem with an ETS in that the price is unpredictable, and any rapid fluctuation in input prices is damaging for business.

A fixed price that is in line with our competitors would be best. Presently that would be about 50c /ton. A price significantly above this would simply shift emissions and production to low taxing countries (as has happened with our aluminium smelting)

Direct action as Labor has done with the renewable target, solar panels, wind farms etc have been a huge waste of money. Intelligent investment in gas turbines, and nuclear would drastically reduce emissions at a far lower cost.

....This has now been done as a clever political move
to garner votes prior to the election.

Yes Lexi, and the game of winning votes continues, as if that's all that matters, winning votes.

Let's not worry about anything else, at least not until after the election, let's just focus wholly and solely on winning votes.

For me, this whole ETS move is purely aimed at taking focus off the most important issue of the day, Kevin's boats.

He knows that what ever he does he is on a hiding to nothing when it comes to the boats, because very few people will forget that it was he who caused the mess in the first place.

Even if by some miracle he does come up with a solution, nothing, and I do mean NOTHING will return the BILLIONS of TAX PAYERS DOLLARS his brain fart has pissed away.

If for no other reason what so ever, and there are some others, he should never ever be forgiven for the mess he has brought upon us, the suffering by our own people with cut backs and the lives of the poor soles that have been lost, chasing the glimmer of hope he provided them.

Shame on him! And shame on anyone who thinks he has earned the right to hold the honored role of running our country.

If he were a CEO, he would be campaigning from prison, and that's the plain hard truth of the matter.