The Gillard Government has condemned Australia to a carbon tax just as the rest of the world is set to step away from legally binding international agreements, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today.
It follows confirmation the Government’s carbon tax legislation has received Royal Assent.
“Tonight our time sees the last scheduled meetings in Durban of the latest round of UN meetings on climate change action ahead of the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol,” Senator Birmingham said.
“Even the most optimistic observers appear to be predicting only an agreement to discuss a possible further agreement for some emissions reductions from 2015 years after Australia will have gone it alone in our act of economic self-harm.
“It is arrogant in the extreme for the Gillard Government to have today welcomed Royal Assent for its damaging carbon tax legislation just as we teeter on the precipice of no binding action around the world towards emissions reductions.
“Yet even with the higher electricity prices and other economic damage of the Government’s carbon tax, emissions in Australia still rise from 578 million tonnes in 2012 to 621 million tonnes in 2020.
“The Government’s arrogance knows no bounds and Australians will now be made to pay the cost of Julia Gillard’s carbon tax despite her promises to the contrary before last year’s election.”