Isramart : Time to get serious on carbon plan

Isramart news:
IN a week that will be dominated by debate over the Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong could, at a stroke, promote the cause of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and help stimulate the domestic economy.

The Government cynically bolted its Renewable Energy Target legislation to its CPRS because ministers claimed business wanted consistency and certainty on what levels of assistance would be provided for trade-exposed industries. This was always a flimsy piece of political convenience. Now, two days before the vote is taken on these coupled Bills, it is exposed as a hollow contrivance.

Business groups such as the Business Council of Australia, the Aluminium Council and the Clean Energy Council have joined individual wind, solar and geothermal power producers in demanding the RET legislation be voted on discretely.

Manufacturers of alternative energy devices are ready to start their engines, providing jobs and economic activity sorely needed in times of very slow growth. The need to decouple these related but individually sustainable, equally important, measures is all the more necessary because there is now almost no chance of the CPRS gaining Senate approval on Thursday.

While the Government’s scheme remains contentious – and the final treatment of the electricity and coal sectors is still unsatisfactorily unclear – there is a general consensus Australia will have some form of cap-and-trade scheme for carbon emissions. Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull believes in an ETS although he rejects significant detail of the Rudd-Wong approach. Yesterday when unveiling his latest piece of climate change response – a baseline-and-credit scheme that is more generous in cushioning the power generators from a trading regime but which fails to impose a cap on emissions – Mr Turnbull warned against falling on the wrong side of an ETS “Betamax/VHS” divide. The world is on the side of a production-based ETS, something that may be compatible with the baseline-credit scheme although that is far from clear on what we heard from Mr Turnbull and his colleagues.

However, putting this new alternative on the table at two minutes to midnight looks more like an attempt to provide a position for his own party to rally around than a fundamental shift in the ground rules for an ETS. After all, we’ve had three significant positions from Mr Turnbull this year on the ETS, even before the floating of the baseline-credit scheme. Today the Coalition party room will discuss what stand Liberals and Nationals will take this week. While the outcome is clear – they’ll vote it down along with the Greens and Independents – the undercurrents will say more about the future of Mr Turnbull. Regardless of the longer-term politics in Coalition ranks, in the short term they should support Mr Turnbull, if only to give the public the chance to hear a united, focused opposition voice. The Government, meanwhile, should drop the politicking over climate change and let the renewable energy sector pick up the ball. If it doesn’t, it can’t claim to be serious about the environment or the economy.