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Greens' Brown Says Gillard Committed to Carbon Price (Update2)
2010-09-19 05:26:22.851 GMT
(Adds Gillard's speech in 15th paragraph.)
By Shani Raja
Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Australia's Greens Party leader Bob
Brown said he believes Prime Minister Julia Gillard is committed
to putting a price on carbon to help prevent climate change.
"The prime minister is very sensibly listening to what the
people had to say and what business is saying" on carbon policy,
Brown said on Channel Ten's "Meet the Press" program today.
The Greens support compensation for trade-exposed
industries, Brown said, while opposing the idea of a full rebate
for companies facing higher costs as a result of a carbon price
being introduced.
Gillard was forced into a power-sharing agreement with the
Greens and three independents after her Labor Party lost its
majority in last month's election. She has agreed to establish a
climate change committee to move toward introducing a penalty
for carbon emissions in the world's largest coal-exporting
nation.
"The point of a carbon price is to have polluters pay for
creating dangerous climate change, and therefore a huge threat,
second to none, for Australia's future economy," Brown said.
BHP Billiton Ltd., a partner in the world's biggest
exporter of coking coal, has said that without a global system
for reducing carbon emissions, Australian industries would
require rebates to stop them relocating to countries where a
carbon price wouldn't crimp their margins.
Greenhouse Emissions
"Our preferred solution is the introduction of an
international climate framework, which includes binding
commitments by all developed and major developing economies to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions," BHP's Chief Executive Officer
Marius Kloppers said at an industry lunch in Sydney last week.
Kloppers said Australia needed to move away from coal as
its main source of power to avoid being at a competitive
disadvantage once a global price on carbon was established.
"We are seeing now Mr. Kloppers and other people who are
very senior in business who want the assuredness of future
investment being based on a carbon price," Brown said in
today's broadcast. "This government is handling that
maturely."
Brown said the Greens supported a tax on the profits of
mining companies that Gillard proposed after ousting her
predecessor Kevin Rudd in a party coup in June. Gillard watered
down Rudd's plan for a 40 percent resources tax after mining
companies ran a national advertising campaign against it that
won voter support.
Reduced Levy
She exempted most commodities from the tax, raised the
threshold for when it kicks in, and reduced the levy to 30
percent on coal and iron ore earnings. The leader of the
Opposition, Tony Abbott, is against the tax.
Brown said his preference for Rudd's 40 percent levy on the
"super profits" of mining companies was unlikely to gain
traction in the current political environment.
"It simply won't happen because Tony Abbott wants there to
be no taxes whatsoever," he said. "That said, we'll take the
government's alternative."
The Greens will support the government "because at least
it does raise a sensible tax for this nation's future," Brown
said. "We'll talk to the government to see if there's
improvements to be gotten out of that, but I would expect that
that basic rate is the one that will apply."
Gillard called on the opposition not to look to topple the
new Parliament in a speech in Bathurst, New South Wales,
yesterday, ABC News reported today on its website. She also
called on lawmakers on all sides in the national interest to
restrain from acting in a partisan way.
"This is not a time for inaction, filibustering or
obstructing progress," ABC News cited Gillard as saying. "The
parliament has not yet even met, but Mr. Abbott has already
spoken of how he wants to bring the government down."
For Related News and Information:
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--Editors: Paul Tighe
To contact the reporter on this story:
Shani Raja in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8652 or
sraja4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Tighe at +612-9777-8626 or
ptighe@bloomberg.net
