Australian media bias on carbon tax

What the Australian Media DID Report

US inaction on carbon tax shows Australia isolated: Tony Abbott 

From: AAP January 22, 2013 

FEDERAL Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has pointed to the Obama administration's inaction on carbon pricing after the US president said more must be done to address climate change.
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Asked if the president's speech meant Australia should do more to tackle climate change, Mr Abbott said the US Democratic administration had backed away from an emissions trading scheme.

"The interesting thing is that President Obama's administration has three times, in the last few months, explicitly ruled out a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme," he said.

"Now, all of us are concerned about climate change. All of us want to do the right thing by our planet. We all want to give the planet the benefit of the doubt.

"But we've got to have smart policies, not dumb policies, to do that."

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Doorstop Interview, Forestville 

Sunday, April 7, 2013 

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QUESTION:

The Prime Minister has recently been praising other countries in Asia with regards to climate change. Do you think that you should leave the carbon tax alone?

TONY ABBOTT:

The carbon tax is damaging our economy. It is not doing any good for the environment.
No other country is imposing a carbon tax on its economy at that scale.
So one of the best things I can do for the families of Australia, one of the best things I can do for the job security of workers, one of the best things I can do to boost our economy and make things like the NDIS more affordable is scrap the carbon tax.

QUESTION:

When is the Coalition going to release its broadband policy?

...

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This nation's a bit player in game theory of climate change policy 

Noel Pearson, The Australian, April 20, 2013 

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Having committed Australian industry to a tax of $23 a tonne, rising to $24.15 on July 1, our country will pay while the rest of the world will not, and there is still no sign other countries will join us.

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What the Australian Media DIDN'T Report

UK Government action on carbon tax shows Australia is not isolated 

March 20, 2013 

The UK Government is acting to give private investors the confidence to invest in the UK’s energy sector.

From April 2013 the carbon price floor announced at Budget 2011 will come into effect, providing a clear and credible long-term signal to support investment in low carbon electricity generation.

[The carbon price floor starts at £16 ($AUD26.79) per tonne in April 2013 and has a target price for carbon of £30 ($AUD50.24) per tonne of carbon dioxide in 2020.]

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University of Western Australia - Coalition's Direct Action plan may be impractical

January 23, 2013 

NEW UWA research looking at the economic impacts of implementing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration methods into farming practices, is showing that these impacts may prove impractical for farmers.
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The authors found that while altering certain practices can be used to increase carbon sequestration it is costly and farmers would require high levels of compensation to make it a viable option.

By modeling the cost of these practices researchers estimate the profit lost for each additional tonne of CO2 stored on the model farm was $80.00 which is far more than the initial buying price of $23.00 per tonne under carbon tax legislation.

[It is 10 times more than the $8.00 per tonne estimate relied upon by Tony Abbott for costing the Coalition's Direct Action plan.]

(Read more ...)