The Greens have launched their Sun Fund policy in Cairns, which seeks to use the Federal Government’s claimed $300 million annual fossil fuels subsidy for renewable energy instead.
The Greens believe that this will reduce greenhouse gas emissions thus protecting the likes of the Barrier Reef and wet tropics.
ABC News: ‘Greens pledge to push renewable energy’
Thanks to Luke Walker for the link.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Only the Greens could possibly coin the tautology “Wet Tropics”.
That they also profess belief that their Sun Fund policy will reduce greenhouse gas emissions points to the fact that their policy has no basis in science.
I think you’ll find Wet Tropics is in wide use not dependent on the Greens. From north of Townsville to Cooktown while the Dry Tropics extends from Bowen to Townsville. Any rainfall isohyet map will show why.
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/reg/cli_chg/averagemaps.cgi
Luke,
Why do you always expect the rest of us to read your citations to understand your debating points?
Is it because you actually don’t understand the issues enough to summarise them yourself?
Luke,
Why do you always expect the rest of us to read your citations to understand your debating points?
Is it because you actually don’t understand the issues enough to summarise them yourself?
I’m sorry you can’t read a map. I thought you were a geologist – ROTFL and come in spinner. Woo hoo !
P.S. And LMAO – yes I agree you never provide any citations. Mate we know your opinions are certainly original and not found in any literature. Hehehehehehehe oh- you can’t buy laughs like these. It hurts.
OK, just what are the greens claiming as “fossil fuel subsidies”?
Not talking about the Diesel Fuel Rebate are they? Now so politically conveniently called “Energy Grants Credits”.
Know what that rebate / credit is? A rebate on fuel tax. It is not a subsidy – it is a refund of tax already paid. It now gets credited against GST in the BAS returns that most businesses must send in.
If the greens are referring to anything else, I want to know exactly what.
Otherwise they are demanding that all off road diesel users – farmers, fishermen, power stations, mines etc – pay the same tax as most on road diesel users.
The political excuse for fuel taxes including on petrol is that they would be used to build roads. Big deal.
I bet Al Gore would be glad to invest that $300 million in his anti-global-warming-combat-CO2 fund. Buying stock in General Electric, which produces locomotives and nuclear submarines, definitely reduces the noxious gases!
Times have changed, in Cairns it was once the Fun in the Sun Festival.
Helen – “Know what that rebate / credit is? A rebate on fuel tax. It is not a subsidy – it is a refund of tax already paid. It now gets credited against GST in the BAS returns that most businesses must send in.”
So what you are saying is that a rebate is not a subsidy. So the persons receiving the rebate are not better off after the rebate than they were before the rebate. If they are better off then it is only a semantic thing to seperate a rebate from a subsidy.
If a rebate is not a subsidy then this is good. Renewables get tax rebates as well so by your logic they are not subsidised either.
The diesel fuel rebate costs upward of 2 billion dollars and discourages solar/wind installations in remote communities because it makes the fuel cheaper that it really is therefore making the more expensive but more environmentally friendly renewable solution less viable.
Luke, lets make this simple.
I overcharge you. You politely point it out. I REFUND what I owe you. A REFUND is not a subsidy. It is your property to claim.
The original political justification for Commonwealth fuel taxes was to fund building and maintaining Australian roads. Fuel for some non-road use was not meant to be taxed.
But differentiating customers would have been costly for suppliers, so the onus has been on the exempted users to claim the REFUND.
And judging by the amount of REFUND received, over a third of the cost of on-road fuel goes straight to the government in taxes. Think of that next time you hear pollies blaming fuel companies for the high price of fuel – and then demanding an investigation! Posturers.
And get something else straight. Demanding on-road fuel tax rates for off-road fuel in job or export creating industries will pretty smartly export those jobs and industries.
Apologies Luke. The above should have been addressed to Ender.
So what’s in a name? When it comes to wedge politics, everything. Rebadging a refund as a rebate or an Energy Grants Credit, makes it easier to paint it as a subsidy – implying that instead of receiving back your own property, you are getting a slice of everyone else’s.
Think of that next time you all submit your income tax returns, hoping for a tax refund rather than a tax bill. Watch out for what the refund gets called.
Back to my original question. If the “fossil fuel subsidies” that the Greens plan to appropriate to fund renewable energy, are not from the diesel fuel rebate, then what are they?