Just when you thought the Business Council of Australia had captured the market for reactionary nonsense, they have been outdone by the Australian Industry group with their latest round of fear mongering over the emissions trading scheme. The headline Emissions trading ‘could cost 1 million jobs’ ran widely this week, gracing the online pages of SMH, the West Australian and ninemsn, to name a few.
According to the article, the AIG submission to the Green Paper says ‘businesses accounting for well over 10 per cent of national production and one million jobs are at risk of “carbon leakage” under emissions trading.’
There is so little substance to grasp onto that it’s difficult to know where to start pulling the argument apart. I’ll start by saying what my gut tells me which is something along the lines of “go on – bugger off then”.
Australian businesses have known about climate change for nearly twenty years. If they still haven’t put in place a plan to deal with it, and they still want to be allowed to continue to pollute without paying any of the environmental costs then they simply do not deserve to enjoy public support any longer. What kind of responsible corporate citizen is it that threatens to pack up their bat and ball and head overseas as soon as the Australian community demands decent environmental regulation? And what kind of CEO is it that thinks that other countries won’t soon implement a price on carbon?
And why is it that the AIG only seems to be able to count in one direction? What about the million or more jobs that could be created by the transition to a low carbon economy?
I can understand the business community arguing for a level playing field in relation to trade-affected industries, where our international competitors do not yet face a carbon price. But to argue for slow start to emissions trading (a high emissions cap and a low carbon price), and free handouts is nothing short of parasitic.
The time for a ‘slow start’ to emissions trading might have been in the early 1990’s – when business could have chosen to play a responsible and proactive role to what was clearly an emerging societal problem. Instead, they lobbied hard and effectively against action on climate change for over a decade. Now, when it is almost too late, and when they can’t avoid at least creating the perception of action, the big polluters are still lobbying against cutting emissions and against the public interest.
When rising sea levels are lapping at their graves we’ll no doubt still be hearing their voices drifting through the CO2 laden air…”we can’t go too far too fast in cutting emissions…a million jobs, a million jobs I tell you!”
If we ever get to have anything like the Nuremberg trials for climate criminals, I know who I’ll be nominating.
4 Comments
Here is a suggestion, any business that shuts up shop in Australia and starts polluting elsewhere should have their name put on a list, and this list should be widely circulated and advertised as the list of businesses who want to destroy the planet. Try to get all nations to black ban the goods produced by these companies (or did the coalition get the law against that passesd?). Also note the names of the company directors who voted to continue polluting, because our children will want to know and persecute these individuals who care so little about humanity. Make the directors names and faces known in their local communities and shame them into rethinking their actions. Time to fight global warming is now and this type of action is needed.
Great post, John! AIG are particularly dangerous, of course, since Heather Ridout has managed to embed herself so deeply in the Rudd Government at so many levels. Doubtless her opinions are extremely persuasive in Cabinet.
Yes twobob… I’m fairly sure economic boycotting was made illegal by the former Government.