Fix the Budget by Cutting Climate Waste
Media Statement by Viv Forbes
Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition. http://carbon-sense.com/
The Carbon Sense Coalition
today called on the federal government to reduce the burden of the Climate
Industry on all taxpayers and consumers.
The Chairman of Carbon
Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said that the biggest national scandal today was how the
whole government apparatus, including the nationalised research and media
industries and parts of the opposition, was totally captive to a religious
belief that a destructive war on carbon energy will somehow provide benefits to
some future generation of Australians by cooling the climate and preventing
extreme weather events.
“This is a delusion.”
Quote:
It was the great Milton
Friedman who said “There is only one tax on the people and that is government
spending”.
Cutting expenditure, not
re-arranging expenditure, must be the total focus of this budget.
And the first candidate for
spending cuts must be the totally useless Climate Change Industry.
Every department, program,
research grant, travel grant or salary with climate, warming, carbon,
sustainability, renewable, sequestration, clean coal, ethanol or IPCC in its
title or mission statement should be abolished forthwith together with its
staffing. This list must include but not be restricted to:
The Australian Renewable
Energy Agency (Arena) and its dependants, saving about $3.2 billion.
The Clean Energy Finance
Corporation, saving about $10 billion.
The Emerging Renewables
Program, saving about $126 million.
The Clean Technology
Innovation Program, saving about $200 million.
Subsidies to Coal-fired
electricity generators, saving about $5.5 billion. (This has to be the
ultimate madness - the government levies a crippling carbon tax on coal-fired
electricity generation to force them to close and then pays huge subsidies to
the same generators to delay their closure).
All Climate Change
“Research” focussed on carbon dioxide, saving about $300 million.
“Contracts for Closure” - payments to ensure closure of some
electricity generators (unbelievable - surely the carbon tax will do
this).
The Coal Sector Jobs
Package - payments to coal mines to offset the cost of the carbon tax- just
abolish the tax.
Coal Sector Assistance
Package - Subsidies to some Coal Mines (another stupidity -
repaying some of the carbon tax they took in the first place).
Everything funded under the
Clean Energy Future Plan.
All renewable energy
subsidies.
The Low Emissions Technology
Demonstration Fund.
The Ethanol Production
Grants Program – a subsidy per litre of ethanol produced.
All climate change
officials, lawyers, inspectors and auditors everywhere, maybe 13,000 of them
saving, say, $2 billion per year.
The offices of the Climate
Commissioner and the Clean Energy Regulator – whatever they cost is wasted
money.
The whole Carbon Capture
and Storage empire – The National Low Emissions Coal Initiative, the CCS
Flagships Program, the National Carbon Dioxide Infrastructure Plan, and the
Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.
Support for all the
International Climate Forums and Conferences via APEC, CEM, G20, IEA, IEF,
IPEEC, IRENA, IPCC and all the travel costs associated with attendance.
All handouts under the
Green Precincts Fund - $15M spent to date.
All government advertising,
market research, media monitoring, media advisers and logo designers promoting
the carbon tax, the Department of Climate Change, smart meters or other climate
and green energy initiatives.
Donations to Green Friends
such as the Climate Institute, the Australian Conservation Council, Climate
Works Australia, Green Cross Australia, and the ACTU - $3 million spent
already.
To “balance” all of these
reduced expenditures the government must also abolish the carbon tax and all
fuel taxes not related directly to public road usage and applied to road
construction and maintenance.
Note: The above list
probably includes errors, double counting and omissions, but such is the
confusion and proliferation of the alphabet soup of what poses as “Climate
Policy” that it is doubtful if anyone could prepare an accurate and
comprehensive list. The only feasible solution is to start cutting, biggest
first. None of them will be missed, except with relief by taxpayers and consumers.
(Ed note: This was meant for yesterday prior to the budget but Google refused to load for some reason.)
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