Australians should beware of smoke and mirror tricks in relation to any suggestions Labor is taking an axe to its Climate Change bureaucracy, Acting Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage Simon Birmingham said today.
It follows the revelation that the head of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE), Blair Comley, yesterday wrote to all staff calling for voluntary redundancy applications.
“The carbon tax is a budget disaster which is forcing the Gillard Government to cut staff and programs across all portfolios to fund the initial $3 billion budget black hole created by the carbon tax,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“However, in the case of Climate Change, claimed staff cuts are a con because Labor is creating even greater bureaucracies to run its carbon tax through a myriad of new agencies.
“The new $256 million Clean Energy Regulator or ‘Carbon Cop’ opened its doors this week and will soon be joined by the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the $3.2 billion Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the $25m Climate Change Authority.
“These new agencies are on top of existing outfits such as the DCCEE and the Climate Commission.
“The Carbon Cop alone will employ more than 350 people by July this year, more than offsetting any decline in staff being talked about at the Department itself.
“Leaks already suggest a number of Julia Gillard’s Ministers are clearly not impressed at having to find staff and program cuts to fund Labor’s massive carbon tax black hole.
“Labor’s toxic carbon tax will see budget pain for many staff and programs, but the carbon tax bureaucracy and waste will keep growing under Labor, just like the carbon tax itself.”