Yarra Climate Action Now!

The Rudd Government now officially has no practical policy to tackle the climate emergency (just like the Howard Government).

This video is an excerpt from a recent ABC report. It speaks for itself.

GetUp is asking people to vote on the following no confidence motion:

"We the people have no confidence in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's leadership on climate change. He has failed to deliver action to address the greatest moral challenge of our generation."

Click here to add your vote.

The new mantra of the Rudd Government is that Australia will do "no more and no less" than the rest of the world on the climate crisis (even if that means we head into catastrophic, runaway climate change?).

However it seems we can't even reach that most mediocre of goals. A recent assessment by the German NGO German Watch of the world's 57 most polluting nations put Australia fourth last, or 57th out of 60 (the top three spots were left blank due to no country deserving them). Maybe Rudd's new mantra should be "we will do no more and no less than Kazakhstan".

For the full report, click here.

Excellent short video that explores the flaws with the current cap and trade model for climate policy pursued by most governments, including the Australian one via the inaccurately named Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.



And for an interesting critique of the video click here.

STOP PRESS: Update 2 December - The CPRS has been voted down in the Senate - However the Rudd Government will try to get it through again next year - so these criticisms stand.

What else is there to say?

About one year since Kevin Rudd announced his 5% target, it seems enough Liberals will vote for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in the coming days for it to become law.

A lot has been written by scientists, economists, journalists, environmentalists, health professionals, religious leaders, development workers, politicians and ourselves, as to why the CPRS is inadequate and deeply unjust, however, the only people that Kevin Rudd, Penny Wong and the Liberal Party listened to were the fossil fuel lobby.

Let's not mince words here, the CPRS is an abomination. It will not reduce Australia's emissions due to the unlimited import of dodgy permits and offsets from overseas. Even if it did, it would reduce emissions to such inadequate levels that if they were adopted by all the developed countries we would almost guarantee catastrophic, runaway climate change.

Worst of all it makes rich the very people who should be feeling the pinch of a carbon price. Billions of taxpayer dollars will be handed over to coal miners and coal burners - those that pollute the most get the most money.

With the deal that the Labor and Liberal Parties made, compensation for the big polluters will go up even more, while $910 million will be taken away from household compensation, that is, money for poor households to cope with rising prices caused by the scheme, to be given to the shareholders of companies like TRUenergy and International Power Hazelwood.

We will see prices for many of our goods and services increase under this scheme, with no subsequent emissions reductions (modelling by the Australian Treasury showed that under the scheme as it stood before the negotiations made it even worse, Australia's emissions wouldn't drop below 1990 levels until 2035, and that was after it was assumed that clean coal was invented in 2033).

What has happened is a complete corporate takeover of our two major political parties. The hypocrisy of the Labor Party, which talks about the importance of acting on climate change, while putting forward a scheme that does nothing, is extremely saddening and frustrating. They have put the interests of large foreign fossil fuel corporations before the interests of every existing and future man, woman and child on this Earth. They have broken their election promise to take climate change seriously.

The only amusing sideshow in this whole saga has been the extent to which the Liberal Party has torn itself apart, with the climate change hypocrites and the climate change deniers fighting over their support for a scheme that locks in business as usual anyway.

Every single politician that has been involved in the development of this CPRS should forever be condemned. They do not deserve to represent us in parliament. We hope the Australian public is not fooled by Rudd's spin and punishes the Labor and Liberal Parties for this betrayal, and the scheme is repealed in the future, to be replaced by policies that will take action to the extent the climate science demands.

To read the speech of the only politician that's making any sense in all this, click here.

An absolutely classic rant by Crikey's Bernard Keane.

Welcome back to Parliament for the final time this year. Two more weeks of this stuff and then we’re finished for a summer that already feels like it’s been going a month. That’s assuming Anthony Albanese doesn’t keep his colleagues confined here at the end of next week, or even brings them back for another spell in December.

Wouldn’t want all those end-of-year “let’s all be best mates” speeches to get in the way of proper legislative business eh?

The job of a political journalist  — not of course that I would know, since according to the national broadsheet I’m not a “real journalist”, and strangely proud of it  — is somewhere between theatre critic and sports commentator. The main tasks of sports commentators are to tell you who’s winning and pretend something exciting is happening when it isn’t. That’s where it is closest to political journalism. Media coverage of politics is always about who’s winning and who’s losing, naturally, but the trivial and meaningless are routinely built up into events of monumental importance simply for the sake of pretending something significant is happening.

But you also need to appraise the performances of the principal actors (not to mention the ambitious walk-on players), assessing the conviction or otherwise with which they utter their lines, paying close attention to the effect not on professional observers such as oneself, who to use the immortal phrase “don’t know jack”, but the hoi polloi in the cheap seats at the back, from which vantage point scenery-chewing hammery or mindless repetition may look like the stuff of the Great Tragedians.

Once in a while, we’re reminded that this isn’t a show or a game that we’re watching. This morning the Prime Minister made an apology to the “Forgotten Generation” in the Great Hall in Parliament House. He was followed by Malcolm Turnbull. Both made heart-felt and emotional speeches, without political polish, the sort of speeches we can point to when people lament the lack of Australian political oratory. The tears and smiles and applause of those present who as children were abused in institutional care show how significant the actions of government can be, even in simply acknowledging those whose pain was ignored for so long.

This fortnight also sees some sort of climax in the emissions trading debate, another issue of more-than-usual gravity.

I don’t know about you (no, really, I don’t) but I’m utterly over the CPRS debate. It’s been a long road since early last year, when Penny Wong blithely called the Garnaut Review “one input” into the Government’s consideration, in effect spilling the beans, or giving the game away, or belling the cat, or whatever cliché takes your fancy. I’m now sick of emissions trading. Sick of Wong’s tedious droning, of Kevin Rudd’s sanctimony, of the Coalition climate denialists who make a virtue out of their own intellectual and emotional disabilities.

I’m sick of Barnaby Joyce and the National Party, so plum-stupid that they can’t even understand when the National Farmers’ Federation tells them it’d be a good idea to back the scheme. I’m sick of the rentseekers, the whingers, the sooks and Hookes, who preach the virtues of the market when it suits them but whose natural posture is of a hand stuck out, demanding assistance, and assistance in ever greater quantities, like blackmailers who just keep coming back for more.

to continue reading click here.

The Rudd Government's Carbon Polluters Rewards Scheme (CPRS) is going to be voted on in the Senate this week. It is most likely to fail, as all other parties apart from the Labor Party will be voting against it (the Greens for good reasons, everyone else for bad reasons).

Yarra Climate Action Now (YCAN) has gone on the record in this blog and in other forums numerous times since the CPRS was announced in December last year. To see our past entries on this issue click on these numbers - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

As this issue is all over the news this week, we would like to reiterate that together with the 150 grassroots climate action groups that met in Canberra in February, and most environment groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, we oppose the CPRS and hope it does not become law.

The reasons can be summarised as follows:

1. It will not reduce Australia's emissions (most reductions will come from buying dodgy overseas offsets)
2. The targets are nowhere near what scientists say is necessary to give us a chance of avoiding runaway climate change.
3. It will result in a massive transfer of wealth from the Australian taxpayer to the big polluting corporations.
4. It will render voluntary action to reduce emissions practically meaningless.
5. It will sabotage international negotiations by showing the world that Australia isn't serious about fighting the climate crisis.

If the Rudd Government was serious about fighting climate change, rather than just saying it is, it would create a scheme that addresses the above concerns.

For further information to back up the five points above, please see our past entries on this issue.

PS - it goes without saying that the proposal that Malcolm Turnbull released yesterday is even worse!

A poll released today found that 75% of Australians either agree or strongly agree that the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme is not tough enough on the big polluters and needs to be strengthened in the Senate.

Only 13% disagreed with 12% not knowing.

It is certainly encouraging to see that the Australian public has more sense than our Labor/Liberal politicians when it comes to acting on the climate crisis. If only they'd listen more to us rather than their fossil fuel industry benefactors.

At the same time as the poll was released, the Australian Greens released research which showed that foreign companies stand to make billions of dollars from the Australian taxpayer if the current scheme becomes law.

The major findings included:

* A total of $11.68 billion worth of assistance under the ETS will flow to companies that are wholly or partially foreign owned in the first five years of the Scheme

* 84% of compensation in the coal-fired electricity generators sector will go to foreign companies, based in UK, Hong Kong and Japan. With a total of $3.246 billion flowing to such companies between 2011-2015.

* 67% of the allocation - or $8.4 billion- under the Emissions Intensive Trade Exposed (ETIE) scheme would flow to companies that are wholly or partially owned by overseas companies between 2011-2016

* The owners of the Hazelwood Power station in Victoria, UK International Power Plc, are in line to pocket 28.6% of assistance available to the coal-fired electricity generators sector, or some $1.1 billion. Yallourn W power station, owned by CPL Power Asia, will receive $908 million.

*Loy Yang A power station - in line to receive $782million.


hhmm, so those very same corporations that should be stopping their burning of fossil fuels, will be paid billions of our money to keep doing it. Does that make sense to anyone?

Yesterday’s National Climate Emergency Rally saw thousands of Australians take to the streets to demand the Rudd Government recognise climate change for the emergency it is, take the Carbon Pollution Rewards Scheme back to the drawing board, and take much stronger action to create green jobs and a switch to 100% renewable energy by 2020.

Rallies were held in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart and Wollongong.

Damien Lawson’s opinion piece published in The Age today sums up the sentiments of protestors: Stop wasting time and save the planet Mr Rudd

For photos of the event click here, here and here.

The rallies received media attention in Australia and internationally, see:

BBC - Australians demand climate action
Reuters India - Australians demand more action on climate change

ABC Online - Wong defends policy amid climate change protests
The Sydney Morning Herald - Activists call for green jobs
The West Australian - Hundreds rally in Perth for climate action

...and compilation of TV coverage in Sydney

Faced with a much worse recession than we are facing here, the UK Labour Government has pledged to cut Britain's emissions unconditionally by 34% on 1990 levels by 2020, with this to increase under an international deal.

The UK Government aims to do this without importing international credits, which have been heavily criticised by scientists and environment groups.

While these cuts are still not what climate scientists are saying the rich world needs to cut emissions by in order to avoid runaway climate change (well over 40% by 2020), compare it to the measly 5% by 2020 Kevin Rudd has offered for Australia - complete with importing of international permits.

If the UK can do this, why can't Australia do even better with our abundant renewable energy resources?

To read further on these policies click here.

The letter below was sent to Kevin Rudd today and signed by 66 climate action groups, including Yarra Climate Action Now.

RE: PROPOSED CHANGES TO AUSTRALIA’S TARGET AND CPRS

Dear Prime Minister,

The 66 Climate Action Groups signing this letter are completely shocked by your decision yesterday to further weaken Australia’s position on climate change.

We believe that you have abandoned your duty of care to protect the Australian people as well as our species and habitats from dangerous climate change.

Groups strongly oppose your new 2020 emissions reduction target band of 5-25% below 2000 levels:

• We have consistently called for targets based on the best available climate science, which calls for reductions of at least 40 – 50% by developed countries by 2020.
• The 5% unconditional target would, according to the world’s top scientists, commit us to catastrophic climate change and the IPCC’s worst-case scenarios.
• The 25% upper target, if applied globally, would lead to at least 2°C of warming and the loss of the Great Barrier Reef. This is an untenable position and we cannot accept it.
• These targets also remain out of step with the unconditional targets agreed to by other developed nations (the UK, US and EU have agreed to cut emissions by 34-46%, 20% and 20-30% from 1990 levels respectively).

Groups also assert that a global agreement based on 450ppm CO2e will not protect the Great Barrier Reef, as you suggested yesterday. International scientists estimate that atmospheric CO2 needs to be no more than 350ppm, but preferably closer to 300ppm, to avoid dangerous climate change.

Your decision to further weaken the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) by increasing the number of free permits, delaying the Scheme by a year and introducing a $10 price cap in the first year, completely flies in the face of the thousands of submissions that were lodged by concerned communities, scientists and individuals.

Groups, once again, recommend you urgently fix the fundamental flaws in the CPRS:

• Urgently exclude international permits from the CPRS so that actual emissions in Australia will begin to fall from 2010 onwards, rather than reductions only taking place from 2035 onwards (as forecast by the Federal Treasury).
• Remove the emission floor in the CPRS (which prevents emissions from falling below the 5% target), to ensure that individual action can contribute to additional emissions abatement over and above the 5-25% emissions reduction target band.
• The proposed ‘Australian Carbon Trust’ does not address our concerns on the need for individual action to be additional to the 5% target. The Trust simply formalises what individuals were always able to do anyway. Nomatter what individuals do to reduce emissions we can never go beyond the 5% target.
• Exclude both reforestation and deforestation from the Scheme – Groups note the current treatment creates a market distortion in favour of increasing native forest logging. This requires urgent rectification.
• Replace ALL free-permits in the CPRS with a system of Border Adjustments, to ensure that these sectors transition to a lower emissions intensity without being unduly disadvantaged in the international market.
• Change the requirements for the $3.9 billion of assistance to coal-fired generators under the CPRS to be conditional upon a phase-out plan for these generators.

Yesterday’s announcement has confirmed to us that you have not been able to stand up to the immense pressure exerted upon you by industry.

Your election promises to the Australian people on climate change were clear and unequivocal. Despite all of this, you have chosen to put industry interests above the national interest.

We stand by our comments to the Senate last month – we believe that your climate change ‘spin’ is deceptive and misleading to both the Australian public and the international community.

The 66 Climate Action Groups signing this letter urge you to treat climate change as the emergency it is, and broker an ambitious new climate deal for Australia that truly addresses the needs of future generations, builds new jobs in ecologically sustainable industries and protects our precious species and habitats.

Yours sincerely,

Yarra Climate Action Now and 65 other climate action groups

First published in The Age 30 March 2009, by Guy Pearse

IMAGINE the scene — you have had a bad day at work, the kids have the flu, and you have just got some nuisance caller off the phone. There's a knock on the door. "Hi, I'm from Alcoa," says a slickly dressed man with a Texan drawl. "We're wonderin' whether you'd care to give us and our fellow emission intensive trade exposed companies $500 a year until 2020 and beyond so we can have free emission permits?" You slam the door in his face.

Then there's another knock on the door, similar bloke with an Oxbridge accent. "I'm from International Power," he says. "Terribly sorry, old chap, but coal-fired power stations will be worth less once emissions trading comes in, so generators are charging all households a once-off fee of $455 to maintain their value for our shareholders." You tell him where to stick his bill.

Then there's yet another knock on the door. "Yah, hi thar," he says with a bitzer foreign accent — Swiss maybe, with some South African speckled through it. 'We're from the Xstrata, and we'd like some cheques from you for the coal industry: $93 to cushion us from the impact of emissions trading; $62 for new infrastructure to double coal exports; and $62 for work on 'clean coal technology' — $220 all up should cover it for now." You threaten to call the police unless he leaves the property.

...to continue reading the article, click here.

As part of a national day of action, where around 32 protests were held outside the offices of Federal MPs in every state and territory, Yarra Climate Action Now and friends gathered outside the office of Lindsay Tanner, Member for Melbourne and Finance Minister.

The message was clear, we want a climate change policy from the Federal Government that doesn't lock in failure and catastrophic climate change. We want the Federal Government to listen to the scientists and the community, not the powerful polluter lobbies.

What's at stake is no less than the survival of humanity. For more information on why the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is worse than nothing, see the post below.

For coverage of the protest see the second half of this article (please note, the article gets the name of our spokesperson wrong, and the name of our group wrong - you've got to love lazy journalists).

Below are a few photos:

Co-author of Climate Code Red, David Spratt addresses the crowd.

(c) Yarra Climate Action Now


The Climate Emergency Service band performs.

(c) Yarra Climate Action Now


A protester lets Lindsay Tanner know he'll be held accountable over the Labor Party's inadequate and anti-scientific climate change policies.

(c) Yarra Climate Action Now

A summary of all the protests around Australia is available here.

To see a video of the protest the day after these protests at Hazelwood Power Station, click here.

This Friday, 27 March will see around 30 actions all over Australia at MP offices. They will be happening to protest the Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

Come along to one (or two!) of them, if we don’t fight for a safe climate future, we won’t get one! Details of actions at the bottom of this post.

Yarra Climate Action Now will be attending the action at Member for Melbourne Lindsay Tanner's office, Friday 27 March, 12pm, 280 King St, Melbourne.

The Rudd Government's CPRS is a sick joke, written at the behest of the fossil fuel and dirty industry lobbies at the Australian people's expense.

It will:
- lock in inadequate and unscientific emissions reduction targets of 5-15% by 2020 on 2000 levels
- undermine international negotiations on an emissions agreement by showing Australia is not willing to pull its weight
- give pollution property rights to polluters, opening the Australian taxpayer up to potential compensation claims in the future when we have a government that will actually take climate change seriously
- result in a massive transfer of wealth from all of us to already rich, polluting companies, through free permits and other "compensation" giveaways
- disenfranchise voluntary action to reduce emissions by households and communities.

According to Guy Pearse in the latest Quarterly Essay, the giveaways to big business in the CPRS add up to a:

• $455 one-off payment per Australian household to prop up the value of coal fired power stations for their mostly government and foreign owners.
• $93 one-off payment per Australian household to the coal-mining industry
• $500 per year per Australian household between now and 2020 (and beyond) to buy free permits for Australia's worst polluting industries.

The scheme is designed to maintain business as usual and transfer wealth, while giving the appearance of action. It will not stop fossil fuels from being dug up and burnt, despite the urgent need to keep the coal, gas and oil in the ground. We need to urgently transition to a zero emissions economy, and the CPRS does nothing to begin that transition, in fact it probably sabotages this. We have to take a stand against a policy that puts the interests of big polluters above those of all Australian's and future generations.


Confirmed actions on 27 March include:

VICTORIA
* Office of Lindsay Tanner, Member for Melbourne, 280 King St, Melbourme at 12pm.

* Office of Kelvin Thompson, Member for Wills, 3 Munro Street, Coburg at 10am. Info Ellen on ellenmroberts at yahoo.com.au

* Office of Martin Ferguson, Member for Batman at 8am, 159 High Street, Preston. Info: Carol on caride at bigpond.com.au

* Office of Jenny Macklin, Member for Jaga Jaga at 10am, 149 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg. Info: Bridgit on bbattova3 at bigpond.com.au

* Office of Peter Costello, Member for Higgins at 10am, 1343 Malvern Road Malvern, contact Sue on 0411885126

* Office of Nicola Roxon, Member for Gellibrand at 10am, 1 Thomas Holmes Street Maribyrnong. Info: Shaun westsax at westnet.com.au

* Office of Steve Gibbons, Member for Bendigo at 10.30am, Cnr Williamson and Myers St, Bendigo. Info Dean dc at masg.org.au

* Office of Senator Jacinta Collins, 1013 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill, 10.30am, info Carol, ci at the.inter.net.au

* Office of Sophie Mirabella, Member for Indi, 117 Murphy St, Wangaratta, 9am

* Office of Richard Marles, Member for Corio, 12 noon, 17A Yarra St, Geelong. Contact: Mitch 0448 997 415 bukitmouth at hotmail.com

* Office of Michael Danby, Member for Melbourne Ports, 12pm, 117 Fitzroy St, St.Kilda West, info David, david.robinson at y7mail.com

* Office of Simon Crean, Member for Hotham, 10am, 401 Clayton Road, Clayton. Info Imogen imogen.jackson at gmail.com


SOUTH AUSTRALIA
*4pm-5.30pm Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, 100 King William St, Adelaide, info Gemma gemma.weedall at student.adelaide.edu.au


AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
*8am Federal Department of Climate Change, 2 Constitution Ave, Canberra, info Leigh, 0421 282 825


NEW SOUTH WALES
* Office of Anthony Albanese, Member for Grayndler at 9am, 334a Marrickville Rd, Marrickville. Info Climate Action Newtown

* Office of Tanya Plibersek, Member for Sydney – 12.09pm [As the international meeting in Copenhagen will be in December 2009], 422 Crown St, Surry Hills. Contact Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle, ccbrmail at aapt.net.au

* Office of Maxine McKew, Member for Bennelong, 10am, 230 Victoria Rd, Gladesville, info Jo info at climatechangerg.org.

* Office of Peter Garrett, Member for Kingsford Smith, 11am, Level 6, 806-812 Anzac Pde, Maroubra, info Scarlet scarlet.wilcock at gmail.com

* Office of Julie Owen, Member for Parramatta, 11am, Suite 8, The Octagon, 110 George St, Parramatta, info 0425 265 169.

*Office of Bob Debus, Member for Macquarie, 10am, 98 Bathurst St, Katoomba, info 0400 302 279
AND his other electorate office:
10.30am, 3/217 Howick St, Bathurst, info Judy, judygreg.walker at gmail.com

* Office of Sharon Bird, Member for Cunningham, Shop 501, Globe Lane, Wollongong - more details to come.

* Office of Senator Michael Forshaw, 4pm, Suite 2, Level 1, 33-35 Belmont St, Sutherland, info Jon, jon at doig.net

* Labor Party Headquarters – 3pm, 377 Sussex St Sydney NSW 2000. Contact Friends of the Earth Sydney - 0402 564 862

* Office of Greg Combet, Member for Charlton and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, 8:30am, 324 Main Road, Cardiff, following a footpath march down from Cardiff Station from about 8.15 am (Newcastle train arrives 8.12am). Organised by Climate Action Newcastle (CAN), Lake Macquarie Climate Action (LMCA) and Rising Tide. Info Zoe 0425316496 or zoetiarerogers at gmail.com

* Office of Sharon Grierson, Member for Newcastle, 10am, 427 Hunter St, Newcastle. Organised by members of the Newcastle University Student Association. Info simon.cunich - at - gmail.com


QUEENSLAND
* Office of Kevin Rudd, Member for Griffith, 1pm, 630 Wynnum Road Morningside. Info: Dominic, dominicale at optusnet.com.au or 0436 638 772.


WESTERN AUSTRALIA
* Office of Stephen Smith, 8.30am, 953a Beaufort St, Ingelwood info, www.safeclimate.org.au
Ph 0417 319 662.


NORTHERN TERRITORY
* Office of Damian Hale, Member for Solomon, 30 The Smith Street Mall, Darwin. Info Justin Justin at nonuk.es - more details to come.

* Office of Warren Snowdon, Member for Lingiari, 1pm, Unit 3, 12 Gregory Tce, Alice Springs. Info Ruth ruthapelt@yahoo.com. 2:30pm meeting with Warren Snowdon, info Mandy iainandmandy at octa4.net.au


For updates, how-to guides and further information go to http://stepitupaustralia.wordpress.com/

A group of ten Australian economists slammed the Rudd government's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), and called for a science-based policy to achieve 25%-40% cuts in emissions by 2020.

YCAN NOTE: The economists advocate targets that are based on the partially out of date findings of the IPCC's 2007 report. It is possible that rich countries cutting their emissions by 25-40% by 2020 will not be enough to avoid runaway climate change.

This is their statement:

The Australian government is to be congratulated for its decision to take part in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) cannot be regarded as consistent with the government's expressed goal of a global agreement to stabilize the climate. Among a number of serious flaws, the proposed target of a 5 per cent reduction in emissions (with a 15 per cent reduction conditional on a global agreement) is simply inadequate to deal with the problem.

In our view the CPRS fails on the following criteria:

First, while there can be no doubt that a high carbon price will result in a significant transformation of the Australian economy, it must be remembered that such transformation is the actual goal of an emissions trading scheme. It is ironic that while the usual purpose of compensation packages is to ease the pain of such transformation, in the case of the Rudd Government's package compensation is being used to prevent such a transformation. The CPRS actually rewards the major corporate emitters for failing to act despite having been on notice since at least 1997 that the emission reduction targets would be adopted.

Second, the most significant consequence of the global financial crisis is to increase uncertainty and, in turn, reduce new investment. The creation of more ambitious emission targets would provide certainty that would stimulate major investment in renewable energy infrastructure. The consensus scientific and economic opinion is that the consequences of failing to address climate change will dwarf the costs of the current financial unrest.

Third, the Rudd scheme structures the compensation opportunities for energy-intensive, trade-exposed corporations in such a way as to provide an incentive for these corporations to expand production and emissions. This will effect further restructuring of Australian industry that consolidates its energy-intensive character to the disadvantage of low-energy, energy-efficient industries.

Fourth, the proposed compensation of trade-exposed energy-intensive industries is underpinned by the implicit notion that government should ensure a level, and thus competitive, playing field. Yet the proposed compensation package will benefit industry sectors dominated by international corporations which hold considerable market power. The proposed compensation package will further enhance that market power not create competitive markets.

Fifth, the Rudd government has designed a scheme in which every tonne of emissions saved by households frees up an extra permit for the aluminium or steel industry to expand their pollution. In addition to destroying the moral incentive for households to 'do their bit' to reduce emissions, this design feature renders all other policies aimed at reducing emissions pointless. For example, households who spend $7,000 installing photovoltaic solar panels might believe that they are helping to reduce emissions but in fact the only impact of such investment will be to slightly lower the demand, and in turn the price, of the fixed number of pollution permits issued by the government.

Sixth, the Rudd scheme fails to cost the complex administrative arrangements that will be required in order to effect the auctioning, the free allocations and the redistribution of permit revenues across the economy.

The CPRS is based on neither sound economics nor sound science. We call on the Government, or the Senate, to make major improvements to the proposed 'solution' to Australia's rapidly rising greenhouse gas emissions.

These improvements should include:

• Lifting the targets to 25-40% by 2020 based on the latest scientific evidence
• Abolishing the free permits granted to the biggest polluters
• Ensuring that individual action results in lower emissions, not lower carbon prices

Unless these major flaws in the CPRS can be fixed the government should introduce a carbon tax as a matter of urgency.

In the meantime, we would strongly urge all Australian governments to immediately introduce incentives to maximise investment in the development and use of renewable and low-emissions technologies.

Dr James Arvanitakis University of Western Sydney

Dr Lynne Chester Curtin University of Technology

Dr Richard Denniss Executive Director of The Australia Institute, Adj Associate Professor ANU

Assoc Prof Steve Keen University of Western Sydney

Dr Andrew Mack Macquarie University

Prof Barbara Pocock University of South Australia

Prof John Quiggin University of Queensland

Dr Stuart Rosewarne University of Sydney

Dr Ben Spies-Butcher Macquarie University

Prof Frank Stilwell University of Sydney