26-March-2009
Portfolio Media Releases, Emissions Trading Scheme
Leaked government research shows the Rudd Government's emissions trading scheme will decimate many regional economies and lead to tens of thousands of job losses.
Secret government research reveals that many vibrant regional centres, such as Geelong, will shrink by more than 20% if Mr Rudd's scheme is introduced.
"The Rudd government has been hiding the real impact of their deeply flawed ETS - the community has been seriously mislead by the government's claims that Australia can save the Great Barrier Reef for $1 a day", said the Opposition spokesman on emissions trading, the Hon. Andrew Robb AO MP.
"Mr Rudd’s scheme will create regional ghettos out of some of our most vibrant regional centres and will send the unemployment rate sky rocketing in Geelong, Gippsland, the Hunter Valley, central west Queensland, and the Kimberley, amongst others."
According to the leaked economic modelling, commissioned by the NSW Government, regardless of the nationwide impacts of Mr Rudd's emissions trading scheme, the effect on some regions would be "much more severe."
The report also says "this economic downturn will inevitably be associated with a rise in social and community problems as businesses close, unemployment levels rise and real wages and house prices fall."
"Where are the Labor Premiers? Here we have a state govt that has been sitting on dynamite.
“They should be knocking down the rime minister's door insisting on a major re-think.
"Where are the local Labor members - Darren Cheeseman, Chris Trevor, Richard Marles, James Bidgood, and others - why have they gone missing in action? Why aren't they standing up for their communities?” said Mr Robb.
The impact of the Rudd Government’s flawed emissions trading scheme on the lives of everyday Australians has been exposed.
This hastily designed scheme, born out of a political inspired timeline, is an unemployment time bomb.
The Rudd Government’s emissions trading scheme will cost jobs, kill investment and yet do little, if anything, to reduce co2 emissions.
The government must identify the transition costs on local communities and model viable alternatives. The biggest structural change in decades can not be approached with indecent haste when so much is at stake.
The government must rethink its overall approach to this entire issue.
Media Contact: Stuart Eaton, 0433 298 620