11-November-2008
Portfolio Media Releases, Emissions Trading Scheme
The decision by Alcoa to suspend work on the expansion of the Wagerup Refinery confirms the Coalition’s concerns about the Rudd Government’s rush to an Emissions Trading Scheme amid the worst financial crisis for eighty years.
“The Government says they have to rush into this scheme to give industry certainty but real certainty can only be provided by delaying the introduction of the emissions trading scheme beyond 2010 to get the scheme right,” said the Shadow Minister for Emissions Trading Design, the Hon. Andrew Robb AO MP.
Alcoa has said “work needed to be done to…understand the detail of the Government’s emissions trading scheme before the project could be revisited.”
“To rush the finalisation of an emissions trading scheme for purely political reasons;
• without knowing the outcome of next year’s Copenhagen summit
• without knowing what President Obama will do, and
• without knowing the impact on real economies of the global financial meltdown
is reckless in the extreme.
“Unfortunately the Treasury modelling only adds to the uncertainty as it takes no account of the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression and does not reflect real life.
“People increasingly recognise that Australia best tackles climate change from a position of economic strength – with people in jobs, and companies making profits and paying taxes,” Mr Robb said.
“The Rudd Government is continuing to put at risk thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of capital investment in the resources and energy sector because of its reckless approach to implementing the ETS,” said the Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources, the Hon. Ian Macfarlane MP.
“The Prime Minister and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong must be up front with Australian businesses and workers about just how many jobs they are prepared to sacrifice needlessly.
“The Rudd Government cannot expect the resources and energy sector to take it on faith when this Government has yet to spend a single cent installing the technology to lower greenhouse gas emissions from coal fired-power stations.
“This is not something the Prime Minister can address in a report or review. The livelihoods of everyday Australians, working in the energy and resources sector, are at risk because of his rushed plan.”