Australia Reining in Climate Schemes After Voters Reject Carbon Tax

The New American

 

Written by  Alex Newman

 

In the wake of a crushing defeat last week for the climate alarmism-promoting Australian Labor Party, which imposed the deeply unpopular and expensive “carbon tax” credited by analysts for the conservative coalition’s victory, authorities in Australia are preparing to dismantle and consolidate the myriad global-warming schemes spawned under the previous government. However, while legislation is already being drafted, major hurdles remain before the tax on CO₂ can be scrapped, sparking an outcry among businesses, state governments, and especially Australian voters, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new coalition and its pledge to kill the costly economic burden.
According to Australian news reports, the government’s vast anti-carbon “climate” apparatus currently consists of more than 30 programs under seven departments and eight agencies. Under the newly elected center-right coalition, the sprawling machine is set to be reined in significantly, saving taxpayers over $40 million in four years by “collapsing” the various schemes into just three entities run by two departments. The restructuring of the federal climate regime was announced to government employees before the election — widely viewed as a referendum on the carbon tax — and a spokesman for the new coalition confirmed that the plan was still on track.
“What we've said is we will commence the merger as soon as the process of appointing the ministry and swearing in the ministry has been complete,” climate-action spokesman Greg Hunt for the new Liberal-National coalition was quoted as saying in a radio interview. “To be frank, during the course of the pre-election period, when we were allowed to consult with departments, we laid out the fact that there would be a merger. We were express and clear and absolute about that, and we indicated we would like it to begin right from the outset. I imagine that the public servants are preparing to do that. Our agenda was clear and open, and that is an official process we'll go through as soon as possible."
Climate realists say that the entire global-warming behemoth ought to be axed entirely — especially considering recent developments that experts say have thoroughly debunked the United Nations' warming theories and wildly inaccurate computer models. Indeed, numerous experts say the 15-year “pause” in warming may actually be the start of a global cooling period. However, as The New American reported this week after the Australian election, there are a number of obstacles to shutting down the costly climate schemes, including incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s waffling on “climate issues” and resistance to scrapping the carbon tax in the Senate.
Analysts virtually all agree that Abbott and his more liberty-oriented coalition were elected by voters mostly to abolish carbon taxes and restrain the “green” machine, which has contributed to record business failures and soaring costs even for essentials. However, while the carbon tax looks almost certain to be abolished eventually and some of the climate regime will be reined in, the new government is also working on its own global-warming schemes. Perhaps the most important is the so-called “Direct Action” ploy. In a nutshell, the plan calls for squandering vast sums of taxpayer money to buy dubious “emission reductions” from other countries.


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