Email from Australian leader of the Opposition "The Mad monk" Abbott - I like him!
THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2009 LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR WARRINGAH
Dear XXXXX,
RUDD'S DUD CLIMATE TAX IS CERTAINLY DEBATABLE
AUSTRALIANS need to ask why Kevin Rudd is running away from a debate on his Emissions Trading Scheme if it is the most important economic, political and moral issue of our time. Why has Kevin Rudd ducked the opportunity to back up his claim by taking up my challenge to a series of debates?
Particularly when the jobs of workers throughout NSW and Australia, especially those in the coal industry, are at stake.
Last Sunday, Bob Baldwin and I visited the Bloomfield Colliery in the Hunter Valley.
Up to 16,000 jobs in the Hunter (that accounts for about 40 per cent of Australia's export coal industry) are at risk because of Kevin Rudd's ETS. Plainly, the coal industry was not all that happy with the original scheme and it was only marginally less happy with the amended scheme.
The fact is that Labor has just not thought this ETS and its impacts through.
The massive new tax Kevin Rudd proposes under the guise of his ETS threatens Australian jobs and investment.
Mr Rudd owes it to workers to explain how Hunter Valley and other export industry jobs will be protected under his scheme.
The Coalition is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions but not in a way that burdens Australian industry and Australian workers with a great big new tax.
Making our exports more expensive through the imposition of a new tax in Australia will do nothing to reduce global emissions. It's estimated that demand for our resources from countries such as China and India will continue unabated for at least the next two decades.
And, if Australia prices itself out of those and other markets, the product will simply be supplied by our competitors at the expense of Australian jobs.
The Rudd Government's ETS is in effect an energy taxation scheme which deserves the most rigorous scrutiny by the Federal Parliament.
For starters, it will impose a $120 billion tax on the public, something that just simply should not be waved through the Parliament without the most vigorous scrutiny.
The independent pricing regulator in NSW has estimated that Mr Rudd's ETS will add 30 per cent to power bills.
Yesterday, Mr Rudd was desperate to let people know that he'll compensate them for the increase in their electricity and other bills, but how is this encouraging Australians to take practical action to reduce our carbon footprint?
Both the International Monetary Fund and the Tertiary Education Union have come out recently to say an ETS tax on all Australians is not the way to go.
And, there is growing concern among unions such as the CFMEU that the jobs of its members are under threat.
When good Labor people are unhappy with Mr Rudd's rushed ETS tax, it's a good indication that Kevin Rudd has got it wrong.
This is a threat of Mr Rudd's own making and he needs to explain to the Australian people its impact on the economy and on the family budget before his Government takes another step towards imposing a massive new emissions tax on the nation.
Authorised by Tony Abbott MHR Level 2,17 Sydney Rd, MANLY NSW 2095
Phone: (02) 9977 6411 | Fax: (02) 9977 8715 |
www.tonyabbott.com.auThis message was sent from Tony Abbott MHR to xxxxx@xxxxxx.com. It was sent from: Tony Abbott, 17 Sydney Rd, Manly, NS 2095, Australia.