What we're talking about

Durkim on New Zealand Gangs Mm, yeah... Real funny, Randhil... more
Kayli on The Boats God help me, I put aside a whole afteroonn to figure this out. more
Raynes on Tax and Pollution Until I found this I thoguht I'd have to spend the day inside. more
James Brown on Mark Latham Mark, you must fell as if you are pushing it uphill, but you are the hope of the side. Keep it up! more
Michael on Halal certification The Halal Choices website is http://www.halalchoices.com.au/product_lists.htmlIt lists all the products that have been ... more
a barker on A few facts on illegal boat people We are the Lucky Country, or are we?.15 years ago maybe.How many Indonesian Officials are taking a a bribe from the people ... more
Robin on The Boats Hey,Thanks! Great post you have written on "The Boats ".Really I can say that your post is very informative, I'll come ... more
dan on A few facts on illegal boat people From what i can see if we dont do something about this flood gate issue,we will have the same nonsense thats happening over ... more
Randhil on New Zealand Gangs This info is the cat's pajmaas! more
Keshawn on CMC Complaint into Queensland Health That's rlelay shrewd! Good to see the logic set out so well. more
howard on Learning from one another? We are such a politically correct and multiculturally sensitive country Islamists are flourishing here. Just as they ... more
PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
anne white on Halal certification A website that lists all Australian food products that are halal is, HALAL CHOICES.Also I phoned COLES (1800 061 562) and ... more
john on The Taxi Industry No one have the right to do anything they dont want.. you want to drive cabs do it you are not force to do something you do ... more
Diana on Halal certification I just found out about this today! Does anyone know how to get a list of products bearing this logo so we can boycott them? more
lol on New Zealand Gangs lol... this isnt good at all more
Ann on Support our Diggers Is it possible to buy this sticker? I'm sure any number of people would be proud to support our diggers by displaying the ... more
Mimosa on Smith with PM Gillard You mean I don't have to pay for expert adcvie like this anymore?! more
figsen/hypolgirl on Anna Bligh as President Hope you're checking this out Wobblyone. Your comment is one of the cleverist/funniest I have read. Couldn't stop laughing. ... more

Phantom ETS jobs

Posted by: Michael Smith | 8 February, 2010 - 1:18 PM

Well we don’t have an ETS, and if common sense and the will of the people prevail we won’t get one.

Not before the US, China and India put schemes in place.

And that’s not likely to ever happen.

But that hasn’t stopped the “money-is-free” federal government from employing 150 public servants to “implement and administer” the scheme that never was.

Yes – 150 people. At a cost of $81.9 million this financial year.

What do they do? There’s no scheme to implement or administer.

They come to work every day at the Australian Climate Change Regulation Authority. It’s just one part of Penny Wong’s mammoth Department of Climate Change.

And it costs you $81.9. I’ve asked the boss of the Authority Geoff Leeper to come on the show – we’ll keep you posted as to when he might be “available”.

If we ever succumbed to the madness of an Emissions Trading Scheme, here’s how it would work.

It’s not complex at all. Everything would go up in price – let’s take electricity as an example.

Electricity producers who use coal would have to get, buy or borrow a “permit”. There are 4 ways to do that

They could lobby Canberra to get the permit for free (at first).
They could buy it from someone who has more permits than they need.
They could get the use of a permit through a derivative trade with a speculator (like the financial trades that made the GFC)
They could pay money for a carbon credit to a tribal chief in West Papua who reckons he won’t cut down his trees

Whatever, power costs will go up and the extra cost plus GST will be passed onto electricity customers or the power generator will go broke.

So how does that affect us? We pay more for electricity – many say 40% extra in the early days of the ETS.

Mr Rudd says he will compensate people who he thinks are likely to vote for him, he says 92% of people.

If he does and if it all works as planned, 92% of people will be in the same position as they were before the ETS. Except for all the money going through this extra bureaucracy.

And what about the other 8%? 8% of the population will pay for 100% of the emissions reduction effort. You beauty!

Lots of angry customers, lots of bureaucracy, heaps of red tape. And no effect on the climate.

Madness.

Blog comments

150 parasites at an average
cost to US of $546000, to administer Rudd and Wongs
obscene tax that we were
luckily saved from. This is
one obscenity compounding
the first.But then what else can you expect from this pair
of arrogant liars?

peter hansen Sunday 28 February, 2010 - 7:22 PM
G'day Smithy, We own 5 acres with lots of trees and we keep planting more, and seem unlikely to be paid/compensated for preseving and improving the place, why should we pay Carbon Tax? My neighbors on the other hand have knocked down most of theirs a few years back, does this classify them as oxygen theives? We used to joke about the air and water being free but it seems these have a price too. The real tragedy is that $81.9mil could have paid for a heap of re-forestation and created many jobs not to mention carbon and heat sinks. It's obvious Krudds answer to everything is money,money,money !!!!!!!!!!

Chris Wednesday 10 February, 2010 - 7:59 AM
But wait there's more, as the years go by the subsidies will come off (have you heard of any subsidies from the government lasting) And we can all have that warm feeling of doing something for the (pockets of the Pollies and their banker mates) planet.

David Tuesday 9 February, 2010 - 10:30 PM
Do you really believe that a TAX will stop climate change. If so can I interest you in a bridge?

A TAX will not make one iota of difference to the climate but will line a lot of peoples pockets... not mine unfortunately.

Dave Monday 8 February, 2010 - 5:04 PM