Our biggest problem in the World today is Fukashima
it's alot worse then what they are saying...
If they receive another big quake soon we are all
up the creek imo

I do know that saying TB ... But I didn't know
about his forecast... Right on the money!

Libya was paradise you only need ask Student's who are studying abroad.

Cuba was the same.

Regards,
Niccolo

Carbon tax to harm schools and hospitals
Linda Silmalis The Sunday Telegraph April 29, 2012

THE carbon tax will add another $9100 to the running of each public school while $120,200 will be gouged from hospital budgets.

NSW Treasury modelling obtained by The Sunday Telegraph calculates the impact of the carbon tax on the state's education and health budgets to top $46 million, at 19.9 million and $26.5 million respectively after July.

The modelling takes into account the rising cost of electricity and other services, flowing on from the tax impost on the country's 500 biggest carbon polluting companies.

While the state government has raised mining royalties to offset the impact, it argued the overall hit to the budget would have a devastating effect on key services unless the government provided compensation.

Treasurer Mike Baird said he had hoped to shield public schools and hospitals from the tax levy through increased mining revenue but the federal government was threatening to cut infrastructure funding should mining royalties be increased.

"Not only is the Gillard Government imposing a billion-dollar hit to our state through their carbon tax, they are also maintaining the threat that NSW will be penalised with a cut to our infrastructure funding if we attempt to recover the costs through an increase in state mining royalties," Mr Baird said.

"We have made it clear that we are not going to accept a multi-billion dollar hit without taking action and we will use all means within our power to recover the costs.

"The best outcome for the people of NSW would be no carbon tax, but at a minimum, compensation arrangements must be reconsidered. NSW taxpayers must not be left footing the bill."

Treasury estimated the impact of the carbon tax on the health budget will be $120,200 for each of the state's 220 public hospitals. The education budget will take a $19.9 million hit, adding $9100 to running costs for 2177 public schools.

Mr Baird said the tax had also reduced the value of state assets such as its electricity generators by $3 billion.

blah blah blah

good to see Obama saying climate change will be an election issue this year - looks like the US is getting aboard

interview with Rolling Stone

Carbon tax price hike hits homes
by: Ken McGregor From: The Advertiser April 29, 2012

A MAJOR insulation company has increased its price list by about 5 per cent to cover the cost of the Federal Government's carbon tax.

The move prompted the Opposition to claim that the tax will end up hurting the environment by dissuading homeowners from using green measures.

Fletcher Insulation, which is a major supplier to South Australian builders and homeowners, has released details of the price hike which will take place from July 1.

In a letter to its customers, Fletcher Insulation says the tax has been difficult to mitigate because it impacts directly on the company's costs as a result of the energy used to manufacture its products.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi said the irony of the situation should not be lost.

"Labor's carbon tax is putting up the price of energy saving measures like insulation, making them less affordable," he said.

"This means there will be fewer installations and less energy efficiency. It's just another example of poorly thought through government policy, the consequences of which Labor doesn't want to know about."

A spokeswoman for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Minister Greg Combet said the Government had acknowledged there may be indirect cost impacts on businesses, such as higher electricity bills, but assistance was available to help manage these "modest" increases.

"The carbon pricing mechanism is the cheapest, most efficient way to cut pollution and drive investment in clean energy technologies," she said.

"It will drive the transition to a low carbon future. In this transition, households and businesses will be encouraged to become more energy efficient, increasing consumer demand for energy saving products like insulation.

"That's why the Government is providing around $15 billion of household assistance over four years," she said.

The new tax is expected to cost Australian households an extra $10 a week, with the Government subsidising people on low incomes.

classic Sidey - made my day

welcome aboard South Korea

question is fast becoming how much we would disadvantage ourselves if we don't push on with the carbon tax / ETS

note - the vote 148 nil - with 3 abstaining

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/south-korean-parliament-approves-carbon-trading-system.html

South Korean Parliament Approves Carbon Trading System
By Sangim Han - May 2, 2012 10:53 PM ET

South Korea approved a cap-and-trade system to cut carbon emissions as President Lee Myung Bak seeks support from factories and power plants in the fastest-growing producer of greenhouse gases among industrialized democracies.

The National Assembly passed a bill to establish a cap-and- trade system in the country by 2015 with the backing of both ruling and opposition parties, according to the assembly’s webcast of the main session today.

“The bill is needed to cope with global climate change and, domestically to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas efficiently,” Kim Jae Kyung, a member of the ruling New Frontier Party, said in the assembly’s plenary session before voting. The bill was passed in a 148-0 vote, with 3 abstentions.

President Lee Myung Bak is struggling to sell the plan at home after pledging in December 2009 at the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent from forecast levels by 2020. The country’s largest companies said the plan will hurt competitiveness.

Korea’s decision follows an agreement at climate talks in December among about 200 countries including the U.S. and China to wait until 2015 to sign a global accord on emission reductions that would take effect as late as 2020.

“Korea becomes an early adopter in Asia” of a cap-and- trade program, Kang Hee Chan, a senior researcher at the Korea Environment Institute, said by phone. “Korea joins Australia and China, which plan to introduce the program in 2015.”
Fastest-Growing

South Korea is the world’s eighth-largest carbon emitter, based on 2009 figures from the International Energy Agency. The country’s greenhouse-gas emissions jumped to about 640 million metric tons in 2011 from 350 million tons in 1990, making it the fastest-growing emissions source among 34 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a Feb. 9 report.

Australia voted last year to start a cap-and-trade system in 2015. New Zealand started emissions trading in 2009, and the European Union has operated the world’s biggest emissions market since 2005.

South Korea imposed reduction goals in October 2011 on 458 polluters starting this year. They range from factories, buildings and livestock farms that produce at least 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.
Unsettled Business

The Federation of Korean Industries and the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the nation’s top two business lobbies, asked the government to delay introducing the plan, saying it will increase costs and make industry less competitive against countries that don’t impose charges on emissions.

Companies may face an additional 5.6 trillion won ($5 billion) of costs if a carbon market is implemented, according to data from state-owned Korea Energy Management Corp., which handles emissions reductions and promoting renewable energy.

“It might be challenging for Korea to cut carbon emissions as requested by the government,” Kang said. “Its major industries, by nature, are emitting lots of the gas.” Korea largely depends on heavy industries such as steelmaking and petrochemicals, he said.

The government is already providing tax and financial incentives to encourage companies to cut their discharges, including a supplementary payment, or feed-in tariff, for renewable energy generated from 2002 until 2011.
Free Permits

These tariffs were replaced with a 2 percent renewable portfolio standard, starting this year. The country’s 14 power generators and other energy producers are required to derive a fixed quota of their energy output from renewable sources, including solar and wind. The mandatory cap will be raised to 10 percent by 2022.

The Korean government may give companies more than 95 percent of their permits for free for three to six years, according to the bill. Companies would get 100 percent of their permits for free depending on their contribution to the country’s trade, according to an e-mailed statement from the Knowledge Economy Ministry today. The government has yet to announce any rules governing compliance, such as how many so- called international offsets would be allowed in the program.

“It needs a lot of studies about the bill’s impact on citizens’ living when mapping out details,” Yim Jong Yong, minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, told lawmakers in Seoul today. “The government will try to determine details linking to impacts.”
742 Million Tons

South Korea would emit 742 million tons in 2020 without a program to cut emissions, Andrea Du Rietz, a London-based analyst at New Energy Finance, said in the note on Feb. 9.

The penalty for non-compliance is set at three times the prevailing market price with a maximum of 100,000 won ($89.17) per ton. The government raised the free allocation from original 90 percent, and lowered the upper limit on penalties five times during consultations with industries. The bill will take effect within six months, according to the statement from the ministry.

“The approved South Korean ETS could provide price support for CERs in the long run and contribute to the longevity of the global carbon market,” Du Rietz said in an e-mail today. “Any links with the UN offset market are highly uncertain, but we currently assume that approximately 20 percent of abatement needed out to 2020 could be met by about 130 million CERs over the six years.”

I'd rather see everyone applying taxes Thebas but we live in what is basically a market based world so an ETS it is

Question for you - is there a point at which the number of countries that sign up makes it a must that we be part of it???

um ok

i actually meant in terms of being signed up and trading in the ETS - not by defacto through your great debt = do what your told conspiracy but rather the actual trading scheme

gotta get to work, have a great day

when will australia join the co2 rorting scheme ...

ahhhh ... we have actually already joined

greg combet pledged 10% of the co2 tax to the UN ... back at Cancun Junket ... the one he failed to tell his nation about  .... what a deciever

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/full-coverage/carbon-tax/a/-/article/8916664/carbon-tax-billions-to-help-poor-nations/



The Gillard Government is party to a UN agreement which Climate Change Minister Greg Combet entered into in December at a meeting in Cancun, Mexico, under which about 10 per cent of carbon taxes in developed nations  will go into a Green Climate Fund.

Even when Ms Gillard was denying  there would be a carbon tax last August, her government had committed to spend $599 million on climate change handouts over the current three-year Budget period, mainly in the Pacific and South-East Asia. About $470 million has already been allocated.


... how much more deceipt can one govt bring to its people ?

Not as much as the last Liberal government*

Regards,
Niccolo

Kristina Keneally has called on Julia Gillard to either change or dismantle the Carbon Tax.

Wise words, Kristina.

The world's biggest Carbon Tax is coming - you didn't vote for it, but you'll pay for it.

re KK- as soon as they are out of the grip of the Labor spin machine- they start to tell the truth.

Government panicking over Carbon Tax - Hockey
Richard Lawson
May 6, 2012


The federal government will rush legislation through parliament this week so 1.3 million low-income families receive a school kids bonus payment in June.

But Prime Minister Julia Gillard denies her government is trying to buy back voters.

The opposition says the decision to dump the education tax refund from 2013 and replace it with the new bonus shows Labor has panicked over the impact the carbon tax will have on households from July 1.

Roll out a candle(s) stimulus package Jez.....

Seriously , Ive been starting to use Lanterns and candles mate at home ....surprising how much it saves on electricity bill

From The Australian Newspaper, 7th May 2012:

NEW research predicts Australia’s carbon price could collapse to about $4 a tonne by 2020 and that the scheme, as designed, risks failing to support either renewable energy power development or the switch from coal to gas needed to slash the nation’s emissions.

A draft report prepared by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, which represents some of Australia’s biggest companies in the climate change policy debate, says the scheme’s strong linkages to the international carbon market, where prices are expected to remain low, will mean average carbon prices could fall sharply after the domestic floor price is removed in 2018.

Under the design of the scheme, a price floor of $15 (rising at 4 per cent a year) will be imposed for three years when the $23 fixed price period, which starts on July 1, makes way for a floating cap and trade scheme from July 2015.



Consider:

- For the first few years, we’ll have a carbon tax much higher than applies anywhere else in the world.

- After that, it will either be too low to make the slightest difference or too high to achieve anything but send Australian jobs overseas.

- Knowing the price is likely to fall will encourage business not to invest in expensive carbon-dioxide-cutting measures.

- If the tax does fall, the gap between money raised and compensation spent will be disastrous.

- And all this to achieve no cut in the world’s temperature