Lets Take the Hot Air Out of the Carbon Tax Debate and Hear the Facts

From July 1 the Carbon Tax kicks in.    The Gillard Government has presented a budget arguably designed to lessen   the impact of the tax on low and middle income households.  Will that be the end of it?

With an election due next year, Labor tenuous hold on power and   Abbots Liberals saying if elected they will repeal the tax, it’s going to be a   major issue.  Labor will have to find a   way to effectively sell the tax (or is it now price).  Tax concessions maybe won’t be enough.  Capricornia is the only regional Queensland   Federal electorate held by Labor.    Arguably Labor will have to keep the seat to stay in Government.  Latest opinion polls indicate that this may   not occur.  So I’ll suspect we’ll start   to see more of Julia, not just in Queensland, but Central Queensland.  Will this be enough to convince CQ voters   that the carbon tax is a necessary tax?    With all the resources available to Government why aren’t we convinced of   the necessity for the tax?

There is credible science supporting the justification for the   tax.  Numerous TV documentaries have   detailed the effects of global warming including Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient   Truth”.  Now with tax concessions; why is   the carbon tax a hard sell?  The budget   allows for $36 million dollars promoting the tax.  Instead of bombarding us with ‘households are   hardly affected because of the tax concessions’ (pseudo election) message, use   this money to discuss the facts about carbon.

Is this really a man made problem; what impact will the tax really   have; how many other countries are introducing a tax; are there alternatives –    if so what are they; what is the impact of a 1% rise in average temperature;   will weather patterns really be affected; will polar bears have nowhere to   live?  This is going to involve a lot   more than a blanket TV campaign with some full page happy family image   advertisements.  Households need to   receive real facts (without the political overtures) and interactivity   encouraged with untainted sources.

It’s a vital global issue, let’s take the politics out of it and have   an intelligent debate.

Treat the public as being able to make informed decisions. I think we   owe our children and grandchildren at least that.