By Andrew Bolt ~
TonyfromOz prefaces:
Where you see the word ‘Liberal’ here, be aware that this is the major Political Party from the Conservative side of the political fence here in Australia.
Malcolm Turnbull as Opposition leader nearly destroyed the Liberals by backing emissions trading – a form of carbon tax. Now he risks destroying the Liberals all over again by considering a new form of carbon tax.
Here is a partial list of the Liberals already in revolt against this insanity, including a key Minister.
Cory Bernardi:
It might make us lauded by the Greens and the Labor Party and the rent seekers, but this is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in politics in recent times.
It beggars belief that we think we’re somehow going to come out winners from this…
I don’t know why it’s on the table. I don’t know why a serious policy dispute that’s been resolved in the Liberal Party has been reopened.
Andrew Hastie:
Why would we unilaterally, economically disarm [by adopting a price on carbon]?
Tony Pasin:
The government should be doing all it can to put downward pressure on the cost of electricity generation to reduce the power bills of hard-working Australians.
Craig Kelly:
I do not see how any form of carbon trading scheme would put us at a national competitive advantage.
Anonymous MP, speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald:
There is very real concern among colleagues that this goes down a track we were promised we would not go down.
Christopher Pyne, Minister for Defence Industry and a from the Liberal Left:
The last carbon tax was a $15.4 billion hit on the Australian economy. As soon as that was removed, of course, energy prices dropped quite dramatically. So we have absolutely no intention of returning to a carbon tax.
(Caveat: Pyne may just be playing definitional games. He may later claim that forcing power stations to buy carbon permits is not actually a tax, since government does not collect the cash itself by sends it overseas – to spivs.)
Then there’s Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, who both confirms a possible carbon tax and then denies:
Barnaby Joyce said there was potential for a scheme where power generators could pay for emissions above a particular level.
I can tell you what the position of the National Party is now – we don’t support a carbon tax,” he told ABC television.
Note, the ABC – Fran Kelly particularly – is already campaigning for this carbon tax, betraying the ABC’s statutory duty to be impartial. Kelly falsely suggests that a penalty imposed on coal-fired power stations that is designed to force us onto more expensive “green” power will magically save us money. Incredible.
Andrew Bolt writes for the Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, and The Advertiser and runs Australia’s most-read political blog. On week nights he hosts The Bolt Report on Sky News at 7pm and his Macquarie Radio show at 8pm with Steve Price.
Read more excellent articles from Andrew Bolt’s Blog . http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/