Must watch: Gillard's Press Club Address today

[rec]

She nailed it, finally putting some emphasis on what I consider the most important points regarding this topic. These points talk about our technological and economical opportunity for Australia's future. Try and catch it if you can, it may be on the ABC News 24 website as an on-demand video later today?

It has been a frustrating couple of weeks; there has been too much focus by the media on people's baseless feelings that this tax will cripple them financially, and that it won't "fix" climate change. It never claimed to fix the environment. These baseless feelings are mostly thanks to Tony Abbott's baseless scaremongering - more and more of which is being debunked as quickly as I can write this post.

Some further very entertaining reading regarding the topic of how it will effect Australian homes:

[psyave]

I have no idea why we as a country have got caught up so much in climate change and fucking carbon tax.

Maybe now instead, politicians could focus on recycling our sewerage for a boost in a water supply. But god forbid, the scaremongering of the science behind drinking recycled piss that is far cleaner than our current drinking doesnt seem to hold sway in a conservative pollies mind. Unless someone came up with the idea of piss pricing, and then another of piss tax, maybe we might see more slap in the face change that should have happened years ago...

[rec]

We've gotten caught up in it because the government is scared of being left behind, and rightfully so. History repeats itself, and we need to be on the right side of the coin when it does; rich countries that missed the boat on what were then future efficiencies are now comparatively poor (e.g. Africa).

A revolution in energy technology is about to be forced, and forced for good reason(s). The first is climate change, but if you're a climate change skeptic, then consider that we're running out of easily obtainable "dirty" resources anyway. Getting the hard stuff means further ripping our planet apart and at a much higher cost.

No one really wants that - but those big companies want to keep making money, so will continue to rape our planet until there is enough financial incentive to look at other options. So, that is essentially what this is about; finally getting our arses into gear and forcing the development of new clean alternatives. China and Europe have already started, and we need to try and keep up if we want this amazingly wealthy Australian life we have now retained for our children's children and so-forth.

If this goes as well as planned, we'll not only keep up, but be a leader who is able to on-sell tech and expertise, putting us at the forefront of the emerging global industry and our economy will boom even further.

If we don't act all, the industry here will shrink and potentially collapse down the line, as what we can mine and sell will diminish dramatically as there becomes less of a reliance on dirty fuels from the rest of the world (who are going green). Jobs will be lost, and we'll have to eventually buy clean tech and expertise from someone else at inflated costs.

[Jay]

In before the Liberal nutters from your facebook land.

[rec]

There was only one; Nytcrawler.

[Jay]

DJs blames Gillard government taxes for profit plunge

^ Talk about not understanding your own market.

According to the DJ's boss, the "aspirational customer" has stopped shopping and was now saving their money and paying down debt.

Mr Zahra said that some of his stores recorded sales falls of as much as 20 per cent on particular days, with foot traffic and the size of purchases by customers both in freefall. The sales dive was across all categories but particularly acute in electronics.

Keeping in mind:
$10? Feeling the pain? Carbon class war? You must be joking - The Drum Opinion - The sense of greed and entitlement in this carbon tax debate is almost beyond belief. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[rec]

He's taking the piss, right? What a moron.

[Jay]

Somewhat related.

Tweet revenge: Turnbull publishes climate critic's number

Federal opposition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull has out-trolled a "troll" by publishing on Twitter the name and phone number of a man he says has been sending him abusive text messages.

"I don't mind abusive emails or tweets but why does Thomas Lynch [mobile phone number omitted] think its ok to send me abusive smses about climate change," the former Liberal leader tweeted today.

And lol:

Poll: Who is your preferred Opposition Leader?

Tony Abbott 15%
Malcolm Turnbull 79%
Other 6%
Total votes: 19213.

I'll admit, Turnbull was interesting as an opposition leader. With Abbott it's like watching a retard fight against Fedor Emelianenko.

[rec]

That is ethically appalling and devoid of professionalism, especially considering his position. It's hard to stomach that there are people like in our political area. Not just that, but they're wanting to run the country. I don't care if he now supports the carbon tax, he's a tool.

[morge]

They just need to get it done quick. If it get delayed they will be trouble however if the price on carbon goes in now it will be in for over a year before the next election and people will realise nothing much has changed buying power wise. It will be a repeat of the GST OMG the sky is falling everyone will not be able to afford anything and SMEs will go broke yet a year latter nothing.

[rec]

Absolutely, I made that point on Facebook too.

John Howard said the Liberal government would never introduce a GST. Then in 2000, it did.

When it was announced in 1998, its massive opposition yelled until they were blue in the face all kinds of ridiculousness - the same sorts of things being said now about destroying families and even financial collapse.

Hysterical idiots.

[Bam Stroker]

This is what wonks are talking about when they use the term "framing the debate". Abbott has up until now managed to dictate the battlefield for the public debate on the carbon tax and, with the assistance of more the conservative elements of Australian media, been able to make the public see it through the lens of what they stand to lose rather than what there is to gain. It's an easy sell for him, too, given that the loss part is much more immediate and tangible. It's easier for people in general to grasp the notion of paying a bit more for groceries when they go to the store than it is to make them visualise a future with abundant, clean energy.

As it turns out the pain of adopting this policy isn't nearly as acute as anyone thought given that the Government (and I'll admit I'm as surprised as anyone about this) has actually done a good job of mitigating the impact on consumers. This is after all a tax meant to be levied at big polluters and not individual Australians. However this has meant that Abbott (and other elements opposed to this policy) have had to go "over the top" and exaggerate the impact of the tax even more than he'd have to if it actually was bad policy in order to make it seem like he has a legitimate beef, and that's largely how we find ourselves in this ridiculous situation we're in now with confected outrage over a few cents here, or a couple of dollars there, which will ultimately be reimbursed (in some cases with interest) to 90% of Australians anyway.

One of the most popular criticisms levelled at the carbon tax is that it won't do anything to meaningfully reduce global carbon pollution. I agree, to an extent. The common argument that Australia, in global terms, emits a negligible amount of carbon pollution (depending on your definition of "negligible" I suppose) is true. But it's also completely wrong and misses the big picture entirely.

If you look overseas you'll see - and this isn't an exaggeration - that the world really is waiting with bated breath to see what happens here in Australia. Those that care about this sort of thing, that is: foreign governments, journalists, think-tanks and opinion leaders are wondering if we can pull this off. If the Government gets its arse handed to it at the next election it will no doubt be attributed in large part to this tax and that would have devastating implications for the potential for other Governments around the world to stand up and implement similar policies.

On the other hand, if the current Government is returned despite the Opposition, a chunk of the media and a vocal proportion of voters turning their jets on them full burn it may just embolden other policy makers around the world get on with the job of tackling their own levels of carbon pollution. If that happens then Australia will have had a massive impact on global carbon emissions.

All the taxes, pollution and what not aside for the moment, if you need just one more reason to resist what the Opposition is saying it's because what we're seeing right now from them is disturbingly reminiscent of the kind of divisive politics that have been the signature of the Republicans in the US for the last decade or so - promoting parochialism, celebrating ignorance, pandering to most selfish instincts and encouraging the basest emotions of voters. If they were to succeed in using this issue to destroy the current Government at the next election then not only would it signal to other countries that they shouldn't go near their own emissions reductions schemes, it might validate the Opposition's tactics and drag future Australian political discourse in the same direction as has gone in the US - straight into the gutter.

Note that although I've made references to carbon emissions and pollution in this essay I haven't once used the term "climate change". That's because I think you can be a complete climate change agnostic (hell, even a denier) and still see the merit in this policy if you look at it as an instrument of long-term economic security instead of some kind of socialist, tree-hugger plot to let the Government stick their hand in your pocket. But of course for those people to look at it any other way they first have to step back from the frame.

I also haven't talked here about the carbon tax fostering the development and uptake of viable renewable energy alternatives either, since that tends to be a focal point of every article written elsewhere in favour of the carbon tax anyway. I'm just concentrating on the broader political implications of the policy's success or failure since I think that's a separate discussion that hasn't had enough attention.

[DoWhatUWant]

I'm just going to jot down a few quick points on this rather biased thread

1. Gillard is a puppet
2. The Carbon Tax will be ineffectual at best
3. Tony Abbot is a dumbass
4. The opposition will win the next election purely because they will change leaders at the last moment and any unknown will win against Gillard in a landslide at this point.
5. The best long term energy solution available at this point is nuclear power but that is bad politics due to the greens being against it in general (zealots that they are) and the recent issues in japan which aren't really applicable to australia since we're not prone to earthquakes/tsunami's

[chad]

You don't need compensation if you don't have this stupid new tax. Saying that 'Australians' will be compensated and only the top 5-10% polluters will be effected is bull s****.

[Bam Stroker]

Re: DoWhatUWant

1. Not going near that one. I think resorting to sledging is the fastest way to undermine legitimate debate
2. Most people aren't denying that. If you'd read my post (and tbh I can't blame you for not tackling that wall of text) you'd see I'm someone who supports the carbon tax that acknowledges it would have little to no impact on local carbon emissions reductions
3. See point 1.
4. Quite possibly! Turnbull is a good chance to roll Abbott and beat Gillard with broad appeal, trouble is that he probably supports a carbon tax anyway.
5. 1989 Newcastle earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Great Adelaide Earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia South West Seismic Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia