(Cross-posted at the ALP blog - please leave any comments there.)
In December 2009, Christina Ora, a young person from the Solomon Islands stood up in front of the world at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and said:
The Australian government has been debating acting on carbon pollution since Graham Richardson brought a submission to Bob Hawke’s cabinet in 1989 to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. We have had 35 parliamentary reviews into climate change.
Today, Australia has finally put a price on carbon pollution. Because we emit more carbon pollution per person than any other nation in the world, we benefit from acting on climate change, and joining the many other countries that are using market-based mechanisms to tackle climate change.
By contrast, the Opposition reject market-based mechanisms. When you reject the market based mechanism you do not tap the ingenuity of the market. You lock yourself into an inflexible system. We should never forget that a price on carbon pollution is not just a disincentive to polluters but also an incentive to investors and entrepreneurs looking to invest in renewables.
A price on carbon pollution as an economic reform that sets our nation up for the challenges of the future. It is the stuff of which Labor governments are made. Labor governments brought down the tariff walls in Australia, Labor governments floated the dollar, Labor governments put in place Medicare and Labor governments implemented universal superannuation. For each of these reforms it has taken a Labor government to harness the prosperity of the future. None of these reforms were uncontroversial at the time of their enactment but all of them have increased our nation’s prosperity. So it will be with putting a price on carbon pollution.
In December 2009, Christina Ora, a young person from the Solomon Islands stood up in front of the world at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and said:
‘I am 17 years old. For my entire life, countries have been negotiating a climate agreement. My future is in front of me. In the year that I was born, amid an atmosphere of hope, the world formed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to solve the climate crisis.’
The Australian government has been debating acting on carbon pollution since Graham Richardson brought a submission to Bob Hawke’s cabinet in 1989 to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. We have had 35 parliamentary reviews into climate change.
Today, Australia has finally put a price on carbon pollution. Because we emit more carbon pollution per person than any other nation in the world, we benefit from acting on climate change, and joining the many other countries that are using market-based mechanisms to tackle climate change.
By contrast, the Opposition reject market-based mechanisms. When you reject the market based mechanism you do not tap the ingenuity of the market. You lock yourself into an inflexible system. We should never forget that a price on carbon pollution is not just a disincentive to polluters but also an incentive to investors and entrepreneurs looking to invest in renewables.
A price on carbon pollution as an economic reform that sets our nation up for the challenges of the future. It is the stuff of which Labor governments are made. Labor governments brought down the tariff walls in Australia, Labor governments floated the dollar, Labor governments put in place Medicare and Labor governments implemented universal superannuation. For each of these reforms it has taken a Labor government to harness the prosperity of the future. None of these reforms were uncontroversial at the time of their enactment but all of them have increased our nation’s prosperity. So it will be with putting a price on carbon pollution.
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