http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23443997-5014046,00.html
AUSTRALIA'S risk in combating climate change lies in a revival of rent-seekers, political lobbyists and sectional manipulators who hurt our economy for most of the past century, government adviser Ross Garnaut warned last night.
In his dinner speech to The Australian-Melbourne Institute economic and social conference, Professor Garnaut took aim at critics of his proposed emissions trading scheme, particularly those who want emissions permits issued for free.
"That approach would have government deciding which firms and which activities should be given permits to emit greenhouse gases," he said.
Professor Garnaut warned that some people saw climate change as the chance to "invite back into the centre of policy-making all of the rent-seeking interests that blighted our economic performance from the time of Federation to the 1980s".
His message was that nations could get their emissions trading schemes right or wrong with grave consequences.
An ETS was "a new market established by government decree" that relied upon government coercive powers.
As a result, "the rich possibilities for corruption of an ETS" had led many economists to favour a direct carbon tax that was transparent and "much less amenable to manipulation by private interests". Professor Garnaut said the turning point for the ETS would be when people saw the returns were higher from investing in new markets than lobbying to get thebest political fix from government.
He said he would be optimistic once a proper ETS were established. "Well-designed markets can unleash the ingenuity of Australians in reducing emissions at minimum cost to the standard of living," he said.
He predicted this could be done without a noticeable effect on rising living standards.
In a report issued last week, Professor Garnaut identified four pillars essential for an effective ETS: the auctioning of permits, firm long-term trajectories that define emission reduction paths, a mechanism to move between trajectories and careful linkage of an Australian ETS to international schemes.
Govt tight lipped over emissions tradinghttp://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1210996459/210#219Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the government will await the outcome of the Garnaut report on climate change, before it decides whether it will include petrol in its emissions trading policy.
Mr Rudd has criticised the opposition for changing its stance on the issue of a carbon trading scheme, saying it contradicts the opposition's views prior to the last election.
But its feared the introduction of petrol into an emissions trading scheme would put further pressure on petrol prices.